There is an adage in soccer — in sports activities usually, the truth is — that there isn’t a such factor as a cheerful ending. All managers are fired, in the end, no matter what they obtain or how a lot they win. At some level, outcomes will flip, and take the followers and the entrance places of work with them.

That is true, after all, however it’s partly true as a result of managers are so not often keen to do what Spalletti has performed, and stroll away. There is at all times some drawback to resolve, some enchancment to make, some slight flaw to shine and burnish and finesse. There is at all times the possibility that subsequent yr might be even higher. And there may be at all times, most of all, one other trophy to win.

The most interesting managers are — as they need to be — acutely aware of their legacies. They are pushed not simply by proving their superiority to their friends, however by profitable their place in historical past. There is a purpose that Alex Ferguson, and Arrigo Sacchi, and Pep Guardiola are held within the first rank of managers: They are the coaches, in any case, who attained not simply dominion, however dynasty. Their instance encourages managers to twist, slightly than stick.

Spalletti has performed the other. At some level in Napoli’s monthlong celebration, he determined that he had reached the head, and that no matter got here subsequent would inevitably contain a descent.

Rather than danger tarnishing what he has achieved, slightly than doubling down, he has most popular to go away it, good and inviolable, the place it stands. He has his prize, and in profitable it he has his monument, too. In doing so, he has performed what so many others expend a lot vitality doing: He has ensured that his legacy will stay unsullied, untouched. In the haven he has constructed for himself on the outskirts of Montaione, Spalletti will savor the easy, forgotten pleasure that comes from realizing when to step away.