Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri has admitted that he made a mistake by returning to Serie A in 2019 after Juventus enticed him away from Chelsea.
The former Napoli coach was enjoying a successful tenure at Chelsea and had clinched the Europa League title with the Blues.
Juventus approached him, and he convinced a hesitant Chelsea to agree to terminate his contract so that he could make the move to Juventus.
The Bianconeri are a dream club for many Italian footballers and coaches, so Sarri knew he couldn’t let the opportunity pass.
He spent just one season on the Bianconeri bench, and despite winning the league, Juventus still decided to replace him.
Speaking about his return to Italy in a recent interview, Sarri said, as quoted by Tuttomercatoweb:
“Everything was owed to Juve and we just had to win the Champions League, but it was a contaminated message. I won the championship with a group at the end of the cycle and a club that took me on because they had the desire but not the conviction to change their style.
“At Chelsea, I found it difficult to immerse myself in an atypical club, without a sporting director, where no coach could last two years. But then, in the last few months, I’ve had fun and I was wrong in wanting to leave, not so much from Chelsea, which would have also kept me, but from the Premier League, a context of unique beauty. Returning to Italy was a mistake.”
Juve FC Says
Returning to Italy was a dream move for Sarri and he knows this. He thinks he shouldn’t have made the move now because things did not go as planned.
