De Laurentiis claims new Napoli stadium ‘in 3 years’

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis claims they will have a new stadium ‘in three years’ but at the same time complains he has to work within ‘a failing system.’

The patron was present at the Giffoni Film Festival and spoke to reporters about his other role as a movie producer, but was also drawn on a couple of football questions.

De Laurentiis mixture of optimism and pessimism

“We will be competitive at the top level, but the problem for Napoli is that we are immersed in a failing system,” said De Laurentiis.

“We have to make some strong decisions, otherwise in two or three years football will disappear. We risk damaging the health of our players and it feels almost as if those behind the scenes are waging war on football, anything to avoid it progressing and growing.”

The President has said before that he will not work to restructure the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, but would rather build a whole new arena in a different area of the city.

“The new stadium will be in three years,” he said yesterday, to the general surprise of many.

It follows news that Napoli have shifted their focus from the Bagnoli area to a new site in Caramanico, to the west of the city, as it would be close to a future Metro station.

This is particularly surprising because the local council had been unimpressed with the idea only three months ago.

A battle risks erupting between the local council and De Laurentiis, as the authorities are working to improve the Stadio Maradona in time to be considered as a host venue for EURO 2032.