Brought in to replace the sacked Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri only spent one season in charge at Chelsea.
He certainly improved the team on the pitch, but fell short of expectations in the league despite coming third, as they ended up 26 and 25 points behind Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.
He did manage to win the Europa League there too, but after less than 12 months, he decided to return to Italy and took over from Max Allegri at Juventus.
It hasn’t been the smoothest of sailings, but the Turin club were top of the table, one point ahead of Lazio, before the Covid-19 pandemic brought Serie A to a stop.
Now stuck at home like the rest of the country, the manager was interviewed by his club’s YouTube on Friday, where he discussed how he interacted with players, which led him to talk about his time at Chelsea.
He said, relayed by Tuttosport: “The higher you go, the more difficult it is to relate to players, but only up to a certain point. The technical qualities change, but not the human ones of those who are 20-30 years old when they’re all at the same level. I had a conflictual relationship in the Chelsea locker room for 4-5 months, then when I told them that I would go after the Europa League, I cried, and many of them did the same.
“In the end, a strong relationship had been created. I am someone who, if you do badly, will say it to your face, but will also say ‘bravo’ if you do well. Maybe I talk more about what they do wrong than what they do well, and maybe they pay for this in the beginning. Then they understand you and appreciate it.”
The manager went onto explain it’s actually the players he doesn’t end up playing a lot that he ends up building the strongest relationships with, with many of them then turning to the former Chelsea manager for football and life advice.
In fact, Sarri admitted a number even asked him for a job towards the end of their careers because they wanted to learn how to become a coach, while others rang him up to ask him for advice on how to solve problems with their wives.
He joked: “When you establish a relationship, they see you as a point of reference. Unfortunately, it’s also because I’m much older.”
