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Who Is Maurizio Sarri?

Attacking Football at the Bridge

By Callum CookPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Chain Smoker Sarri Chewing a Cigarette Butt

Chelsea started life under a new Italian manager with an impressive 3–0 win away at Huddlesfield on Saturday, which, for many Chelsea fans, came as a surprise, as Sarri indicated that it would take three months for "Sarri Ball" to integrate into the new system at Chelsea.

So who is Maurizio Sarri? He joined Chelsea this summer, after spending three impressive years in Naples with Napoli. He left Empoli for Naples in 2015, where he was highly praised in Italy for the football his Empoli side produced (whom he joined in 2012 and guided them to promotion from Serie B in 2014). They were hot relegation favourites, but Sarri lead them to an impressive 15th place finish which caught the eye of Napoli.

In his first season at Napoli, there was high expectation after Napoli failed to make the champions league under Rafa Benitez the previous season. Sarri’s attacking philosophy brought out the best in his players in his first season, especially Gonzalo Higuaín who scored 36 league goals, a Serie A record. He guided Napoli to a second-place finishing behind Italian giants Juventus. The following season, Sarri perhaps had his biggest test as a coach after losing his main target man Higuain to Juventus for €90 million. Sarri decided to spend the money on positions that were weak in his squad and to provide depth for the upcoming campaign, instead of spending the money on a big name striker. Sarri integrated Dries Mertens (a left winger) as a centre-forward, which at the time was a surprise due to the height of the Belgian who wasn’t normally Sarri’s go-to striker. Mertens ended the season with 28 goals, with the club finishing third, but this was a massive achievement for Sarri, who emphasises he is more of a "coach" than a manager; he wants to coach his players and improve their game technically. Dries Mertens is a great example of this. Sarri’s efforts were recognised, and he was voted the league's coach of the year. Even though his side didn’t win the title, it was what he achieved with a side that didn’t have a lot of optimism at the start of the season, having not replaced Higuain, that got him the award—and his team on paper wasn’t the strongest. Sarri announced himself in Europe for sure; he was already being linked with big clubs. He signed an extension with Naples. The 2017/18 season was the season Chelsea had a lot of interest in him after the turmoil Chelsea had with their coach Antonio Conte.

The start of the 2017/18 season for Sarri was incredible; his Napoli side won the first eight games, which set another Serie A record of most consecutive wins. It took Napoli until December to lose their first game in the league. Napoli went on to win ten games in a row having gone three months without a defeat going into the final hurdle of campaign. Napoli won 1–0 away in Turin against Juventus; the whole Italy had thought Napoli had just stopped Juventus domination and won their first title since the 1980s. Juventus had to play Inter Milan, Roma, and so on. However, Juventus were 2–1 down at the San Siro, and with five minutes to go, Juve won 3–2, with who else but Gonzalo Higuain getting the winner for Juventus. Napoli lost 3–1 the next day. The title was back in Juventus hands and went onto win the Serie A.

Sarri was out on contract at the end of the campaign and didn’t sign a new deal and was replaced by former AC Milan and Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti. After weeks of speculation, Chelsea sacked head coach Antonio Conte and replaced him with Maurizio Sarri, bringing one of his "tools" Jorginho with him to Stamford Bridge. Sarri brought in key players such as Kovacic from Real Madrid and Kepa from Athletico Bilbao, a keeper who is good on the ball and has great distribution similar to Manchester City keeper Ederson. But some would say keeping Eden Hazard at Chelsea was one of Sarri’s biggest achievements so far at the helm. With Sarri’s attacking football and Eden Hazard as the main man, I’m sure Chelsea fans like myself are in for a treat this season. But only time will tell, as Sarri hasn’t exactly won a single trophy, but it’s almost as it’s a breath of fresh air at Chelsea, an opportunity to build with youth, with the likes of Loftus-Cheek, and Hudson-Odio. Before I sign off, remember this: Luis Felipe Scolari won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and was Chelsea's manager in 2008; he was gone in 5 Months.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to do more of these!

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About the Creator

Callum Cook

My name is Callum and I live on the south coast in England. My passions are Media and Football (soccer). I am big Chelsea fan, I have been going too Chelsea for the last 15 years of my life! I will be writing stories about football! Enjoy😄

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