Luciano Spalletti is on Napoli's manager wishlist

Media and fans are casting around desperately for names to tie to Napoli's future at manager. With Rafa Benitez anything but a lock to come back after his contract expires this summer, Napoli need to line up a replacement, and it sounds as though their front office staff are busy doing just that.

After recent talk of Sinisa Mihajlovic being a favorite for the job, a new name for the shortlist has emerged: former Roma boss Luciano Spalletti. Most recently in charge of Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg before being sacked a year ago, Spalletti is well-regarded as a tactician in Italy and Aurelio De Laurentiis is apparently quite a fan.

The 56 year old Italian is regarded as being a manager who sets his teams up to defend strong, but isn't afraid to attack without mercy when he can. He most typically uses a 4-2-3-1 utilizing the same basic types of players as Rafa Benitez does at each spot, which would make a transition at Napoli easier. He's not quite as rigid as Benitez, though, which would be good to see and a welcome change.

Spalletti is also apparently being targeted by Roma, who aren't entirely satisfied with Rudi Garcia given the giallorossi's recent poor form. He's actually still getting paid by Zenit as his contract ran until the end of this season, but should be eager to get back in the saddle as soon as he can. He won the Russian Premier Division twice, adding to the two Coppa Italia wins in his trophy cabinet from his Roma days. Hopefully if he joins Napoli he start more than a few more trophies to that collection.