Aurelio De Laurentiis announced earlier last week that he had a list of 20 aspiring coaches in his hands and a few days later he admitted the list had grown and had… reached 40 names but now it’s showing that we are on the home stretch for the announcement of Luciano Spalletti’s successor on the Napoli bench.

According to a report by “Sportmediaset”, the fight for the Spalletti baton is now like a two-person race Paulo Souza of Salernitana and the Christopher Gaultier of Paris are said to be the two coaches between whom the strongman of the Partenopei is to choose and the Frenchman is to take the lead.

The Italian website even analyzed in detail the situation of both candidates. As for Souza, he has already spoken to the people of Naples and agreed to a move to ‘Diego Maradona’, with the ball now in the hands of the Italian champions.

She covers the clause and makes Souza hers

And that’s because the Portuguese’s contract with the Granata was automatically renewed after Salernitana’s stay was secured, although Napoli could still make him their deal as long as they covered the release clause in his deal.

“Gazzetta dello Sport” reports that the clause can be covered with an amount of 1,350,000 euros, with Sportmediaset emphasizing that in the event of a contract being signed, Souza will sign for 1+1 years and receive an annual salary of 2,000,000 euros in bonuses.

Gaultier has the penchant for De Laurentiis

However, everything shows that Souza is currently an alternative solution for Napoli, whose priority is to take over Christophe Gaultier. The Frenchman clinched the championship with Paris but appears on the brink of relegation as media in France report that Julian Nagelsmann is in pole position for his replacement.

Where does it all get stuck? The compensation that Paris will have to pay for “breaking” the contract with him is 5-6 million euros. If that happens, Galtier would be free to take over Napoli while suffering a arrears on the €5,000,000 he earned from the Parisians.