Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso tells Faouzi Ghoulam he doesn’t care about upsetting Jorge Mendes after sending his player to the stands during win over Bologna… despite being represented by the super-agent too!
- Gennaro Gattuso issues a warning to his players to pick up the slack in training
- The Napoli boss dropped Faouzi Ghoulam for ‘jogging around’ during a session
- He then warned the left back that he doesn’t care about upsetting Jorge Mendes
- Super-agent Mendes represents both the Algerian defender and Gattuso
Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso has reportedly warned Faouzi Ghoulam that he doesn’t care about upsetting his agent – Jorge Mendes – after dropping him for their clash with Bologna.
Following a poor showing in training, Gattuso decided to leave both Ghoulam and Mario Rui in the stands for the Serie A game before taking the Algerian defender to one side to lay down the law.
After the 1-0 win over Bologna, Gattuso refused to hide his disappointment with the duo following their lack of effort.
Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso (left) has warned Faouzi Ghoulam (right) that he doesn’t care about upsetting his agent if he continues to show a lack of effort during training
Gattuso says doesn’t care about upsetting Ghoulam’s agent Jorge Mendes (centre), who also represents the Napoli boss
‘They stayed in the stands, because they were jogging around in training yesterday,’ he told Sky Sport Italia after the win over Bologna.
‘I brought them along anyway, because it’s too easy to just let them stay home and watch it on the couch.’
And, according to Corriere dello Sport, the fiery Italian made sure Ghoulam got the message that his laziness won’t be tolerated by telling him: ‘I don’t care about Jorge [Mendes].’
Ghoulam has featured three times for Napoli this season, racking up just 48 minutes in total
Super-agent Mendes currently represents both Ghoulam and Gattuso, leaving the Algerian left back with little leverage when it comes to getting more minutes under the Napoli boss.
The 29-year-old full back has featured in three of Napoli’s seven league games this season, racking up just 48 minutes in total.
He rarely featured last season either, making just nine appearances across the whole campaign while five of those came before Gattuso was appointed as boss last December.
And Gattuso’s decision to leave the Algerian in the stands has been backed by the club’s sporting director.
Gattuso has been backed by Napoli’s sporting director in dropping Ghoulam and Mario Rui
‘They weren’t concentrated or sharp enough in the final training session, so he made this decision. He saw they weren’t entirely on their toes and made this choice,’ Cristiano Giuntoli told Sky Sport Italia.
‘We are coming off a strange game where we certainly got the first half wrong, made up for it after the restart, and that is a psychological issue. The coach tries to counter that by making his decisions to spur them on.’
Napoli are currently third in the table after seven games and are just three points off league leaders AC Milan.
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