Football
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Fiorentina owner Della Valle critical of Vincenzo Montella

#INSERT type:image caption:Fiorentina owner Diego Della Valle has been critical of former coach Vincenzo Montella.END#

Fiorentina owner Diego Della Valle has expressed his disappointment in former coach Vincenzo Montella for the way he treated the club in the final few weeks of his reign.

Montella was sacked by the Serie A club on Monday for allegedly breaching his contract. They claimed that getting rid of Montella, who still had a year left to run on his contract, was "for the good of the club."

The former Roma coach had been critical of the club's fans towards the end of the season and was set to go on his summer holiday without having confirmed to his employers that he would be back to lead preseason training.

That led to a parting of ways which Della Valle says was neither planned nor desired.

"It is something very disappointing that we did not expect, my brother [club president Andrea Della Valle] even more so than me," Della Valle told La7 television. "Now we have to deal with a situation which we did not want to have to deal with, but which we have had forced upon us. I'm very sorry about it."

A day before being dismissed, Montella had stated his belief that he would still be Fiorentina's coach next season, but it is now being claimed that he may have had contact with Napoli, who are searching for a replacement for Rafael Benitez.

The Azzurri were expected to name former Empoli coach Maurizio Sarri as Benitez's successor this week, but they appear instead to have moved their attention to Montella. However, La Gazzetta dello Sport claims they will be unsuccessful with Montella planning to take a year out following his departure from the Viola.

His position in Florence still needs to be filled and Basel's Paulo Sousa and Parma's Roberto Donadoni appear to be the two leading candidates after an approach for Torino's Giampiero Ventura was reportedly shelved out of respect for their Serie A rivals.

The Fiorentina board are due to meet on Thursday and the appointment of a new coach for next season will be at the top of an agenda which the club had hoped would contain a different content.

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