Maurizio Sarri has opened up on the regret he feels in pushing to leave Chelsea after only a season at Stamford Bridge, calling the decision 'a sensational mistake'
Sarri got his wish to leave the London club and landed the Juventus job in 2019 but looking back now, he feels he was wrong to agitate for a return to Italy and says that Marina Granovskaia, the Chelsea director, wanted him to stay.
Sarri, who is now the Lazio boss, believes that the team Chelsea have these days is better suited to his way of playing.
Speaking to AlfredoPedulla.com, Sarri said: 'At Chelsea I made a sensational mistake, that of wanting to return to Italy at all costs.
'Marina stonewalled me to leave Chelsea, I had this desire to return to Italy. Chelsea are a great club, in the following years they have taken many young people suitable for me.
'I experienced a particular year, in which Abramovich could not enter England and we had an owner who was not present in the area.
'A rather difficult situation, all in the hands of Marina and she had a thousand problems to solve, the football aspect was in the hands of us of the staff, not having the economic power available.
'Then came Werner, Havertz, Mount, Ziyech: all suited to me and my way of playing.'
In his final game at Chelsea, Sarri oversaw an emphatic 4-1 victory over Arsenal in the final of the Europa League in 2019, his first major honour as a coach. They also finished third in the Premier League table.
But despite landing silverware, Sarri was never particularly popular with the Chelsea fanbase and there were calls for Chelsea to replace Sarri with the then Derby manager and Blues legend Frank Lampard.
Lampard eventually did replace Sarri and was at the helm when Chelsea signed the players Sarri mentioned, but Lampard could only last 18 months in the job and was sacked back in January.
Abramovich brought in Thomas Tuchel, a decision that was vindicated with Tuchel steering Chelsea to Champions League glory earlier this year.
Sarri, meanwhile, spent the 2019-20 season as Juventus manager and won Serie A before being replaced by Andrea Pirlo.
'It was taken for granted,' Sarri said of his success with Juve. 'I think mine was not celebrated very much.'
On being replaced by Pirlo, whose only prior coaching experience came through the Juventus reserves, Sarri said: 'This is the Guardiola effect that did so much damage in the end. An exception was taken as if it were a rule and you run the risk of burning some guys who would be great coaches after a few years.
'Sometimes there is a risk of hindering the careers of young people who could become very good with a little more experience.'
Tutu456
539
He made a mistake leaving is packet of cigarettes in Stamford bridge I guess
Rachtake7
533
Sarri is saying all that hoping Abramovich would think of replacing Tuchel with him... to late 😅
Cuocemotuy
439
Can you imagine this Beautiful iron Lady Marina smile at you and say stay and enjoy her smile, you decided to go for old Lady, now see where you are? at Lazio after longtime with out a job.
ChelseaFC_Addict
284
Frank Lampard was brave enough to accept the Chelsea fc job when we got banned he had success by qualifying for UCL and the following season Lampard had the money to spend which I thought he did but recklessly so as such Lampard paid the price of spending over £200 million on new players ,these players that Lampard bought ate very good players Lampard had a dream a wonderful dream but he failed to make it a reality and he was sacked Thomas Tuchel cam in and reap what Lampard sow, Tuchel knew how to make the dream Lampard had into reality and as such he won the Uefa Champions league title in his first season now Tuchel have a new contract, young but good players with experience of winning Uefa Champions league title and also he have the money to buy top players now every coach is jealous every coach wants to join Chelsea FC even the former managers want to come back to Chelsea FC they know Chelsea FC team is the future and it stands a chance to dominate for many years to come . everyone knows that Chelsea fc team is yet to reach it's maximum potential despite the Uefa Champions league title success 🙌 Every manager knows that Chelsea fc team is still going to win titles major titles so they all wanna come back. Lampard is wheeping wherever he is ,he's having nightmares for he knows this could be him ,he knows Tuchel has a good team. everyone is scared of What will Chelsea FC under Tuchel become if they buy Haaland and Rice. Chelsea FC won Uefa Champions league title against the best team in England with the best coach in the world and experienced players so this alone is enough to make the likes of Sarri and Conte wish to come back to Chelsea FC
MrJEY
191
Sarri trying to explain he decided to leave and wasn't sacked to fans but some fans are confused if he really left on his own or was axed...The situation now👇👇🤣🤣🤣
ishti
108
Sarri had no choice but to leave very young Chelsea for the old lady. Authorities in London had warned him that he can't Smoke cigarettes infront of young children.