Aurelio de Laurentiis slams Italian football: “Everything has been dormant”

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After Italy’s shocking loss to Bosnia in the FIFA World Cup playoff final, question marks are again being raised about the country’s footballing structure and grassroot planning. Napoli owner Aurelio de Laurentiis has come out in the open, critising the structures and also proposing plans to make things better.

The Partenopei owner has long been someone who has had new ideas about how to restructure calcio.

He spoke to Radio CRC about the knockout and he criticised Italian football. He said – relayed by Corriere dello Sport: “Finding scapegoats is pointless. In Italian football,  everything has been dormant for years  and  nothing has changed, because if nothing changes, everyone just gets by. I’m not someone who likes to just get by, but I’m someone who’s in an uncomfortable position for others.”

He urged the structures to reset as soon as possible.

“My ideas have been clear for ten years. It just makes me smile, because in Naples we have a beautiful expression: a pazziell ‘mman e criatur (the toy in the hands of children, ed.) . We need to reset everything and start again tomorrow morning.”

With FIGC President Gabriele Gravina’s position in doubt, Giovanni Malago has been mentioned as a possible replacement.

De Laurentiis backed Malago to succeed and come into the role, saying: “If Malagò took an interest in it, we would be strong again within two years. Someone like Malagò is used to always doing his best , he’s a great professional and has proven it in the world of sport.  We know what doesn’t work,  maybe Malagò won’t care, but I know him, he’s humble, he doesn’t need a finish line.”

Further, De Laurentiis also proposed the idea of a 16-team Serie A that will also help the national team.

“We need to be able to say – there’s too much playing, there are too many 20 teams, we need to be 16.”

“We need to give them two months to train properly. I’ll make the players available if you reimburse me a significant portion of what we invest in the player himself and if you give me full insurance for his value in the event of injury, which I divide by the days I miss and they’ll be reimbursed. We can’t play with other people’s money.”