Thread is giving me a headache.
Napoli president rules out signing Africans committed to Nations Cup
- Thread starter SalfordRed18
- Start date
I’m certain SAF once said he doesn’t like sign players from Africa because they miss a vital part of the season every couple of years.
I’ve found articles mentioning it but no direct quotes. There was a time when this was actually mentioned frequently. The AFCON even this year is massively disrespected. Charlie Nicholas called it a silly tournament a few years back.
I’ve found articles mentioning it but no direct quotes. There was a time when this was actually mentioned frequently. The AFCON even this year is massively disrespected. Charlie Nicholas called it a silly tournament a few years back.
Yeah. His tone doesn’t sound good. But I’ll not pass judgment YET based on the fact that
1) it’s most likely been translated from Italian to English.
2) The way of speaking varies across culture. I know Mediterranean people are usually more expressive and blunt.
So really will need an Italian speaker to read the interview in Italian and see if what he said would be considered rude, with undertones of racism, or possibly frustration if he’s team have lost out in the league due to the African Cup, or if it’s normal.
Which makes sense but he still did. Logically, you can't have too many african internationals because it could easily wreck your season but it's perfectly possible to have some, it just takes a bit of squad management.
I don't like it either. I also don't like qualifiers or friendlies interrupting club's football every month or so. If there weren't so many interruptions I would enjoy football more. The seasons could end like a month earlier and then that month could be used to play all those international games in a row. That will also make the international games more interesting because the players would be better cordinated after playing together 8-10 games in row instead of playing 2 every 1 or 2 months.
say Utd were to ignore this clearly relevant issue associated to signing top African talents…and sign 3 or 4…who become Mane and Salah like influences on the team…and come the start of January we are top of the league…cruising…then we lose them to the AFCON and we start dropping points… could we have a logical discussion then without people desperately trying to be offended?
Not everything that involves a race of people equates to some sort of racism.
Not everything that involves a race of people equates to some sort of racism.
His comments seem a bit needlesly inflamatory however I don't see the issue with wanting the players you sign to be always available to play when fit.
It's similar in my mind to avoiding signing players with a long history of injury problems. Or avoiding players like Neymar and Rivaldo who feck off to social events in the middle of the season.
It's similar in my mind to avoiding signing players with a long history of injury problems. Or avoiding players like Neymar and Rivaldo who feck off to social events in the middle of the season.
Still don't know where the 2 months are coming from, which is just inaccurate. The tournament takes less than 31 days.
I would want to see some stats regarding the injuries, I don't see why you are any more likely to get an injury then playing in an overcrowded PL where the game is played at a much higher pace.
You're right. It's a little over a month for players that make a deep run
Big issue on top of that is the possibility of injuries, and fatigue
Who's desperately trying to be offended?
The thing is: Summer in some African countries is in January/February.
I'm pretty sure SAF didn't usually sign player from the African continent because he didn't want to lose them in the middle of the season to AFCon.
Would it not make life easier if the competition moved to every 4 years like the euros?
His tone was honestly uncomfortable to listen to, came across at least a bit xenophobic to me. Not necessarily racist since he's not actually targeting race, as it's pretty clear this is an attack against the afcon specifically(and international football more generally)
Frustration over losing players, yeah, obviously
Different and inferior surfaces, less likely to get rotated. It really is just common sense that can be backed up by general observations from international breaks and the African Cup.
Also yes a player can get injured during the Christmas fixtures, but clubs usually rotate, and if they don’t that’s their choice. And the key thing is they have those players to select or not select.
Was there any particular reason why he said this? Just wanted to vocalise his weird and potentially xenophobic takes to the fans?
He's a weirdo cnut who likes the sound of his voice and wanted to lash out at international football and the afcon specifically, likely because he blames it for not winning the league last season
Oh, and napoli fans kinda hate him
He essentially says that he won't sign players who wish to represent their countries in an official FIFA tournament.
As someone said above, considered as an official statement from the club, it's probably illegal.
Same if you play in leagues like the PL if you ask me. Those matches are so slow compared to the top league matches.
Difference is they're getting injured while playing for *you*, person who pays them for it. As opposed to playing in international competition and getting injured while playing for *not you*, person who pays them for it
Does that include the world cup which will be okayed this winter?
Amen!
. Close the damn thread.
I mean the guy is kinda eccentric but Napoli have signed a bunch of black players before under his regin so I don't think that's particularly fair on him.
Still a kinda shitty because every player should have the right to play for their country if they wish to do so.
I mean... He is just too stupid to say it out loud but in reality, a lot of clubs including us probably think exactly like that. How many African players did we have in the last 30 years or so? Could probably count on 1 hand.
Interesting, the guy is certainly a weirdo as you said yourself but hasn't he had them constantly competing in the upper half while turning a profit and being financially stable?
Considering where they were i say he's had a decent resume.
He doesn't want to spend money to win according to them. The random outrageous interviews, outbursts, and general bouts of madness don't help either
Just in the last 10 years we've signed 5:
Zaha, Bailly, Ighalo, Amad, Hannibal.
Djemba-Djemba, Manucho. There’s three for you at least off the top of my head.
Regarding the quotes, I can definitely understand the unwillingness to have players who are unavailable for 15% of every other season despite being paid a full salary by the club, but he really said the quiet part out loud there.
Fair enough but Napoli fans should be careful for what they wish for.
MLS in the southern USA...
Obscene I tell you!MLS in the southern USA...
I remember watching a pre-season United game in Philadelphia. I wanted to die.
You can't double use that argument. Sure it is inconvenient to have your player not being able to play for you during the season, but then "injuries" isnt another argument to add on top of it. It is part of the first argument.
But clearly some hiring practices are prejudiced and discriminatory, not just your standard run of the mill merit based hire. Losing out on a job because someone else was a better candidate is fine but if the reason you were the undesirable candidate was your race, gender, sexuality etc then that isn’t just something you brush off as ‘a standard selection process’.
I think the argument against that is you have far more European teams being able to qualify for the World Cup than African teams.
Technically, Zaha was still representing England during his stint at United.
Needless thing to say by Di Lorentiis really. He could've probably just applied this tactic for a decade or so without anyone really noticing. Seems even stranger when your best player in the last few years has been African.
I think it's fine. Realistically none of the players would sign a deal not to be paid during this period, so there is a double standard
Huh? Long term injuries suffered on international duty aren't rare, the chances of suffering such an injury while playing a tournament(minimum 3 games), on another continent, are obvioisly not negligible, and they affect a club's season. The club that actually pays for the player in question. This boils down to "international football is bad for me, owner of a football club, and the afcon is especially bad because it's a damn tournament on a different continent smack in the middle of the season". It's all the usual gnashing of teeth about international football magnified by a tournament in the middle of the club season that already costs you players for several games on top of the inherent risks and complications of international duty
Lots of interesting posts in here.
In any case, are people forgetting that January/February is summer for many parts of Africa? There were reasons for doing so, but to align with the Euro calendar, it was moved to June/July.
However, due to COVID and weather conditions, the 2021 and 2023 (2024) editions are set in January respectively. This will revert June / July. You'd think the Napoli president would have checked this before coming out with such a comment.
In any case, are people forgetting that January/February is summer for many parts of Africa? There were reasons for doing so, but to align with the Euro calendar, it was moved to June/July.
However, due to COVID and weather conditions, the 2021 and 2023 (2024) editions are set in January respectively. This will revert June / July. You'd think the Napoli president would have checked this before coming out with such a comment.
Strange that so many people don't see anything wrong with an employer in a country with a long and sad history of racism against africans saying "I wont employ africans because of reasons that are beyond their control". Isn't that the textbook definition of discrimination?