Napoli veteran Christian Maggio called new coach Maurizio Sarri “a maniac” when comparing the differences between the seasoned Italian tactician and previous coach Rafael Benitez.
The Azzurri are in pre-season training through to the end of the month and the squad will take on a much different look this season, both in terms of personnel and playing styles.
“Their coaching styles are very different as Benitez had a very English mentality where he kept everyone calm in many different situations, while Sarri always expects the maximum from his players and doesn’t leave anything to chance,” Maggio stated in an interview with Radio Kiss Kiss.
The 33-year-old right back recently signed a contract extension and has now played for five different coaches since signing from Sampdoria in 2008 for €8 million.
“Every coach has taught me something different and with age comes experience and I’ve learned to be calmer out on the pitch,” Maggio added.
“Sarri is a lot like [former coach Walter] Mazzarri in that he’s a maniac who pays attention to all the details. You can see he looks at everything from the bottom up and I like that a lot.”
Although Napoli won two trophies under Benitez, the former Liverpool man’s reign for the Vesuviani was largely disappointing and it was no surprise when he moved on after only two seasons.
“Obviously, things didn’t go as we had hoped last year although we reached the latter stages of each competition, but not reaching our goals clearly left us bitter. Now the club has made some changes and I’m convinced we can do some great things.”
