Former Napoli midfielder Valon Behrami has launched a scathing attack on coach Rafa Benitez and the club set-up, saying the club is now ‘soulless’.
The Swiss international has moved to criticise the club’s regime following a difficult start to the season which has seen the Partenopei suffer defeats to Chievo and Udinese and crash out of the Champions League at the qualifying stages.
Following a last minute Hernanes equaliser that denied them all three points at Inter last weekend, Napoli suffered their latest defeat at the hands of Young Boys in the Europa league on Thursday, and Behrami told Corriere del Mezzogiorno that this is not good enough for his former club.
“I think the fans will feel taken for a ride and will not tolerate it,” he said. “The new trend at Napoli is to have high expectations.
“Benitez focuses on quality in an absolute sense. He makes great proclamations about having a strong team and goals. Apart from that it had all been done before.
“The Coppa Italia at his first attempt? Sure, but we had other ambitions.”
The former Fiorentina man went further in his criticism, saying that the club is soulless and no longer represents the people of Naples.
“The team has been built on quality, pure quality. It is nice to see, but doesn’t have much in common with the character of Naples.
“There, people want to see the sacrifice, they wants to see the players run and sweat. And they will applaud even if you lose. When [Diego] Maradona was around his genius had players running around, it gave them soul.”
Behrami claims that when he was at the club there was not enough heart and introspection in the dressing room.
“I did not ever witness any complaints towards my teammates. Of course, we almost always won. But even when losing I do not remember any particular intolerance.”
The 29-year-old moved to Hamburg in the summer after spending two seasons at the Stadio San Paolo and winning the Coppa Italia at the end of last season.
