Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed Luis Enrique rejected the chance to take charge at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
The Italian champions were forced to look for a new manager ahead of the 2023/24 season following Luciano Spalletti’s shock Naples exit after leading the team to the 2023 Serie A title.
De Laurentiis has established a reputation for being an impulsive operator with fan opinion split over his willingness to let Spalletti leave the club.
Enrique was on the rumoured list of candidates with De Laurentiis eventually opting to bring in Rudi Garcia.
Garcia’s poor start to the season has seen him since replaced by veteran coach Walter Mazzarri with Enrique already looking frustrated after accepting the top job at Paris Saint-Germain.
De Laurentiis has now revealed the reason why Enrique was not brought in at Napoli with the former Barcelona manager rumoured to be demanding a higher salary than originally put forward.
“I spoke with Luis Enrique for three days, we almost reached an agreement in June… but in the end he rejected our offer, he wanted a higher salary”, as per quotes from Mundo Deportivo.
