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Aurelio De Laurentiis Slams Chelsea Coach Maurizio Sarri for Lack of Silverware
August 24, 2018
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has again aimed criticism at former coach Maurizio Sarri, saying he "gave everything" to the tactician only for him to fail to win any silverware before he left to join Chelsea.
Sarri was confirmed as Chelsea manager earlier this summer following a drawn-out dispute with Napoli.
De Laurentiis offered a backhanded compliment when praising Sarri's style to L'Equipe (h/t MailOnline's Glen Williams), and he bemoaned the lack of titles won.
"There remains the pleasure of having played well but also the bitterness of not having won anything. We gave Sarri everything and in three years we didn't win anything," De Laurentiis said.
Per AS, it's not the first time this summer that De Laurentiis has remarked upon his former employee, who left Empoli for the Stadio San Paolo in 2015 but failed to win any trophies in three campaigns with Napoli:
It's a pattern Sarri will hope to stop at Chelsea, whom he joined this summer and is looking to reinvent after they slumped under countryman Antonio Conte last season and finished fifth in the Premier League.
The only trophies Sarri has won during his career have been personal accolades, which includes being named 2016-17 Serie A Coach of the Year when his Napoli side finished third behind Juventus and AS Roma.
Sarri lifted the Partenopei to second in Italy's top flight the year prior to that as well as last season, though his stay at the club largely reads as second-best to Juve in most sectors.
The transition to Stamford Bridge will be difficult, but Chelsea writer Dan Levene said titles won't be the expectation during Sarri's first season in charge:
However, the tremendous quality of Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus teams must be taken into account before admonishing Napoli's lack of trophies during Sarri's time at the helm.
This Bianconeri have won the last seven successive Scudetti and are made up of world-class players.
Football writer David Amoyal was eager to enforce the notion that while Sarri may not have won anything for the club during his stay, that doesn't mean he didn't do good work on their behalf:
De Laurentiis is at least a big fan of Sarri's replacement, Carlo Ancelotti, and called his new chief a "lovely person" as he returns to Serie A nine years after leaving the AC Milan helm.
Chelsea's fans can at least take it as a compliment that De Laurentiis still praises Sarri's style even after their separation, but they too may come to feel similar frustrations if he fails to bring titles back to Stamford Bridge before long.