After Napoli’s Scudetto-clinching draw against Udinese, Cristiano Giuntoli thanked the club and assured Napoli fans, many of whom gathered at the Maradona for the occasion, that President Aurelio De Laurentiis would ensure the club continues to succeed. It was clear that the Napoli Sporting Director’s eight-year tenure at the club had come to an end.
However, with a year remaining on Giuntoli’s contract and growing speculation that he would become the new Juventus diesse, De Laurentiis refused to let him off easy. The Napoli President waited until the final day of the 2022/23 campaign to officially terminate Giuntoli’s contract, as confirmed by an official club statement.
“Calcio Napoli thanks Cristiano Giuntoli for the 8 years of collaboration with the President Aurelio De Laurentiis, with the Chief Executive Officer Andrea Chiavelli and with the coaches who led the team.”
Giuntoli, who was not present for Rudi Garcia’s presentation at the Capodimonte Museum, left approximately €4-5 million euros on the table in salary, bonuses and outstanding debts, according to Italian media.
Along with coach Luciano Spalletti, who confirmed his departure from Napoli at the start of the month, Giuntoli is largely credited for delivering Napoli’s first Scudetto in 33 years. The Florence-native oversaw a massive turnover of players last summer. David Ospina, Kalidou Koulibaly, Faouzi Ghoulam, Fabian Ruiz, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne all vacated the club. Meanwhile, Salvatore Sirigue, followed by Pierluigi Gollini, Kim Min-jae, Leo Ostigard, Mathias Olivera, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone joined Napoli, all for relatively low transfer fees and all on relatively low wages.
Though he did not get every signing right – Kostas Manolas and Hirving Lozano perhaps being his most glaring errors – Giuntoli was also responsible for the acquisitions of: Piotr Zielinski (2015/16); Mario Rui (2017/18); David Ospina and Fabian Ruiz (2018/19); Alex Meret, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Eljif Elmas (2019/20); Victor Osimhen (2020/21); and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (2021/22).
While Napoli fans appreciate Giuntoli’s role in building a Scudetto-winning side, few will wish him luck as he joins bitter rivals Juventus.
