Osimhen’s Manager at Napoli, Mazzarri, Sacked

For the second time this season, Italian League champions Napoli on Monday sacked their Manager Walter Mazzarri and replace him with Slovakia national team coach Francesco Calzona.

Victor Osimhen who was top scorer at Napoli last season has been struggling this season. He just returned to the team after a grueling AFCON 2023 outing with Nigeria’s Super Eagles where he scored one goal and got three cancelled.

The 62-year-old Mazarri took charge in November after Rudi Garcia was dismissed but Napoli have since fallen to ninth in Serie A ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 clash with Barcelona.

Calzona will be in charge for the first-leg visit of Barca on Wednesday.

Calzona guided Slovakia to Euro 2024 but has a huge job on his hands as he returns to Napoli where he was an assistant during Luciano Spalletti’s trophy-less first season with the club.

Calzona will reportedly keep his job with Slovakia and bring with him Marek Hamsik, Napoli’s top all-time appearance maker who was also the first man to beat Diego Maradona’s scoring record for the club.

Napoli romped to a historic third Scudetto last term but since title-winning coach Spalletti stepped down in the close season, chaos has reigned in Naples.

Napoli are a whopping 27 points behind league leaders Inter Milan after winning just four of 12 league matches since Mazzarri took over, collecting 15 points.

The chances of Napoli getting back into the top four and next season’s revamped Champions League are exceedingly slim, even if Italy wins a fifth spot.