Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Maurizio Sarri wanted in his homeland

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According to Sky Sports, both Juventus and Roma are interested in appointing Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri as their new boss. The Blues are not looking to replace the Italian after he helped the team to third place in the Premier League and also into the Europa League final.

However, his brand of football has not proven universally love at Stamford Bridge. In fact, earlier in the season many Chelsea fans were calling for his sacking. Maybe that will come into the equation when he considers his future this summer.

Sarri reportedly open to a return home

Reportedly the former-Napoli boss is open to a return to his homeland, just a year after arriving at Stamford Bridge. The experienced boss has a year left on his contract with the Blues.

The contract situation is unlikely to prove a barrier to Sarri returning home this summer. A move to reigning champions and dominant force Juventus could prove to be a tempting one, as Sarri has yet to win major silverware as a coach.

Sarri is now second favourites to be the next Juventus boss at odds of 7/2. Only Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola is shorter odds for the job. However, it seems unlikely that the former Barcelona boss is leaving the reigning English champions anytime soon.

Sarri looks like a far more realistic option for the Bianconeri this summer, as they search for a boss to bring them success in the Champions League next season.

Not popular despite perceived success

Looking at Sarri’s situation from a logical point of view, he should be getting praise for guiding Chelsea to third place this season and to the Europa League final. He achieved the Blues objective of a return to the Champions League for next season.

Chelsea were one of the favourites to win the Europa League from the start of the campaign, so reaching the final of the competition may not look that impressive. However, reaching the final of and winning European competition is a big achievement considering how competitive football is at the top-level.

Despite those relative achievements, the Italian seems to be highly unpopular amongst a certain section of the Blues fans. His style of play, which served him well at Napoli in Serie A seems to be the reason for the dislike of the Italian boss.

Another is his use of highly-rated young England international Callum Hudson-Odoi. The teenager is no doubt a big talent, but Sarri has used him sparingly in the Premier League. As with most fans, Blues fans want to see exciting young youth prospects in the team.

With his contract expiring in the summer of 2020, the winger seems nowhere near signing a new deal with the club from south west London. Reportedly, game time is the major sticking point for him signing a new deal. If Sarri stays, the youngster could walk away for a very small compensation fee next summer.

Juventus  would be a fantastic opportunity

In truth, we do not know what will happen with Maurizio Sarri’s future. It truly could go either way. A move back home to manage one of the biggest football clubs in Europe would not be a terrible option for the experienced boss.

If Chelsea’s transfer ban sticks, then the Italian would have to work with the players currently contracted to the Blues. The expectations would maybe not be as great because of the ban, but he would not be able to bring much-needed reinforcements either.

It would not be a major surprise to see Sarri move to Turin this summer. It would be a fantastic opportunity for him and Chelsea are just not currently able to compete with the Bianconeri.

It could be an interesting summer at Stamford Bridge, despite the transfer ban. One of the most interesting aspects would be who would be Sarri’s replacement. However, that is a discussion for another day.

Will Maurizio Sarri leave Chelsea this summer?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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