Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri is leaving the club to become the new manager of Italian giants Juventus.
The Blues have confirmed that Sarri will be exiting Stamford Bridge to take over at Juventus, who won the Serie A last season.
Twitter: Maurizio Sarri is leaving Chelsea Football Club to return to Italy and become manager of Juventus. https://t.co/gIeiIp1ZEo (@ChelseaFC)
Twitter: Thank you and good luck for the future, Maurizio. https://t.co/dGHzekBNPT (@ChelseaFC)
In his one season at Chelsea, Sarri took Chelsea to the League Cup final and won the Europa League whilst also finishing third in the Premier League.
Sarri joined Chelsea from Napoli last summer, after a successful spell with the Italian club, but will now return to the Serie A gain.
The Italian’s position at Chelsea, however, came under a lot of scrutiny throughout the campaign, especially from fans.
But, why? Here are five things Sarri did wrong at Chelsea last season…
Not giving young players a chance early on
Sarri came under a lot of fire early on his Chelsea career for his handling of the younger players at the club. He continually refused to give players like Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ethan Ampadu a chance in the side, despite players in their positions not performing in the Premier League. It set the tone of his relationships with the supporters for the rest of his time at the club. Hudson-Odoi is clearly a talented forward, but Sarri waited far too long to get him involved.
His use of subs
The Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic substitution became a meme throughout the season. His use of his bench was often frustrating to the home crowd, always making like-for-like changes and refusing to freshen things up to bring a game back.
Too stubborn
Sarri said himself that he is not willing to change his style of play or his formation. It’s brought him success in his career, but it didn’t help his relationship with the fans. His refusal to change his formation or approach in games despite losing or drawing to inferior opposition was perhaps a naive move from the Italian.
His use of Kante
N’Golo Kante became a fan favourite at Chelsea in his first two seasons at the club – with his tenacious displays in the midfield. However, Sarri joined the club and completely changed his role in the team, arguably making him far less effective, playing Jorginho in the holding role instead. This decision doomed him from the start.
Style of play
Sarri is well within his right to play the style of football he feels is the most effective and will surely continue to do so throughout his career, but the way he wanted to play did not seem to suit the squad at his disposal. Chelsea lacked the forward and midfield options to carry out his plan effectively and he could have, perhaps, adapted his style until he was able to sign players for his system.