Benitez appointed new Napoli manager

By on May 28, 2013


Rafa Benitez has been confirmed as the new manager of Italian club Napoli by the club’s president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, following the resigntion of Walter Mazzarri. The former Chelsea interm manager was shown shaking hands with De Laurentiis, who described Benitez as a great man and a leader, on the presidents Twitter account, and will move to the Serie A runners-up after a succesful term at Chelsea.

The 53-year-old will take over the Italian club after the resignation of Mazzarri, who was appoonted Internazionale coach on Friday, and will inherit a side that place second behind Juventus in the 2012/2013 Serie A.

De Laurentiis confirmed the move via Twitter, tweeting: “Rafa Benítez is the new coach of Napoli. A great man with international experience. A leader.”

Benitez said: “Now that the agreement is confirmed, I can say I am very happy and very satisfied for having committed to a great club with an illustrious heritage like Napoli. I understand the history of the city and how the club forms a fundamental part of the culture and traditions of Naples.

“I must confess that I am extremely excited. We will begin from the start as we mean to go on and we will fight to achieve success for the fans.”

Benitez move to the Italian club having won the Europa League in his six-month-stay at Chelsea, and although unsucessful during his stay at Internazionale, has had experience in Italian football. The Spaniard also won the Europa League when he was at Valencia in 2004, before winning the Champions League and FA Cup with Liverpool in 2005 and 2006.

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Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.