Chelsea have confirmed the appointment of former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri, who takes over the reins from fellow Italian Antonio Conte.
Chelsea have announced the appointment of Maurizio Sarri as their new head coach. The manager arrives from Napoli with a burgeoning reputation for his brand of football, termed ‘Sarri-ball’. Sarri takes over the managerial position from Antonio Conte.
Chelsea long dragged the uncertainty surrounding the potential replacement for Antonio Conte. The Italian departed recently, in a weird manner, after actually reporting back for pre-season and also undertaking the first training sessions with the squad.
The former Juventus manager though, was given his marching orders recently, after two years in charge of the club. Conte did manage to add to Chelsea’s trophy cabinet, with a Premier League and an FA Cup title the honours achieved under the Italian.
Conte led a team from finishing 10th in the Premier League in the 2015-16 season to becoming champions once again in his first campaign in England. The 2017-18 campaign though, had little of Conte’s magic and worrying signs of a repeat of their 2015-16 season.
Chelsea still managed to finish fifth. But, their inability to finish inside the top four meant they would be relegated to playing Europa League for the upcoming season. With growing unrest in the dressing room, according to reports, Conte has been replaced by Maurizio Sarri.
Sarri’s appointment makes sense and is puzzling at the same time. The manager was hailed for his brand of football at Napoli and while Chelsea would hope for the same brand to be picked up by their squad, Sarri failed to win a single trophy with his swashbuckling football in Italy.
Maurizio Sarri is the new Chelsea head coach!
Full story: https://t.co/qQwb5xZT3f#WelcomeSarri pic.twitter.com/DCNfoVCoz6
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 14, 2018
Sarri has signed a three-year contract with Chelsea and expressed his delight at joining the Blues.
“I am very happy to be coming to Chelsea and the Premier League. It is an exciting new period in my career. I look forward to starting work and meeting the players on Monday ahead of travelling to Australia, where I will be able to get to know the squad and begin our match action.”
“I hope we can provide some entertaining football for our fans, and that we will be competing for trophies at the end of the season, which is what this club deserves.”
Chelsea will hope this association will produce some trophies for the club while also improving their style of play, which has been one of Roman Abramovich’s main targets for a while.
It will be interesting to see how the Chelsea squad is able to adapt and revert to the old system, with Sarri likely to return to a formation with a full backline.
