Maurizio Sarri’s stint as Chelsea’s head coach looks set to be cut short days after he lifted the Europa League trophy in Azerbaijan after the Italian held talks with the club’s hierarchy and made clear his desire to return to Serie A with Juventus.
The 60-year-old steered Chelsea to a third-place finish in the Premier League, secured Champions League qualification and claimed the first major silverware of his coaching career courtesy of Wednesday’s 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal in Baku over a tumultuous first campaign in English football. However, despite having signed off at the Olympic stadium stressing his “love of the Premier League”, it is understood Sarri met the director, Marina Granovskaia, on Friday and indicated his preference would be a return to Italy for family reasons, as well as the chance to coach Juve.
The head coach’s agent, Fali Ramadani, had flown to London from Milan earlier in the day to speak to his client before returning to Italy, where he remains in regular contact with the reigning Serie A champions, who have apparently offered the former Napoli manager a contract through to 2022. It is believed Sarri, whose team had been watched in person by Roman Abramovich in that victory over Arsenal, went on to meet Granovskaia to discuss his future without his representative present.
Despite the head coach’s position having been under serious scrutiny mid-season, a period when results deteriorated and his relationship with a vocal section of the club’s support appeared to fracture beyond repair, Chelsea had no real desire to sack the Italian this summer following the team’s encouraging end to the campaign. Indeed, the team’s performance in the Europa League final had been hugely encouraging and offered a timely glimpse of Sarri-ball at its attacking best. However, with Sarri’s occasional outbursts counting against him – particularly his public criticism of the decision to play a charity match against New England Revolution in Boston after the end of the domestic season – there had also been an acceptance that, if he went on to indicate a desire to leave, Chelsea would not stand in his way if potential suitors agreed a compensation package for his services.
Granovskaia is now expected to speak to Abramovich but the onus is very much on Juve to make a formal approach for the head coach’s services and, most likely, buy out the remaining year on Sarri’s £5m-a-season contract. There had been an option for a further 12 months on the deal he signed in London last summer.
Chelsea could consider Massimiliano Allegri, the man Sarri would replace in Turin, as a potential successor, as well as the former Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc, though a club gearing up for a transfer ban – which could see them place more emphasis on youth – retain an interest in luring Frank Lampard and Jody Morris back to Stamford Bridge. Lampard steered Derby County to the Championship play-off final in his first season as a manager, leaning heavily on the young Chelsea loanees Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori en route, and would find it hard to turn down the chance to return to south-west London.
Sarri had indicated after the match in Baku that he wanted to speak to Chelsea “to know if the club are happy” but also “to see what the club can do for me”. He and his players returned home only on Thursday afternoon after a night of celebrations at the team hotel.
“After a couple of days I will decide,” he had said in Azerbaijan. “You know very well that I love the Premier League, the level of the competition. I am lucky because I am in Chelsea, one of the best teams, one of the best clubs in the Premier League in the best championship in the world. So at the moment I am happy. But, of course, I want to know if the club are happy. If we can improve.”
