Maurizio Sarri has now insinuated he wasn’t backed well by Chelsea in the transfer market.
The Italian has been without a job since leaving Lazio in March. He’s given an interview to Alfredo Pedullà, where he discussed time at his former clubs.
Sarri spent three years at Napoli before moving to Chelsea in the summer of 2018. He was at Stamford Bridge for a season and the 65-year-old helped them win the Europa League.
Sarri talked about his spell at Chelsea when analysing the Naples club’s business in the summer window.
“The money spent by De Laurentiis? It happened to me at Chelsea that the club spent a figure close to that, in a context in which the opponents spend much more,” he said.
“They were years in which City spent a lot, but also Liverpool and United, €120-130m on a Premier transfer market in those years was not a top expense at those levels.”
It’s worth noting Chelsea invested in excess of €200m [including deal for Christian Pulisic] during the 2018/19 season. On the other hand, Liverpool spent over €180m, while both Manchester City and Manchester United invested around €78 and €83m respectively.
Sarri brought Jorginho from Napoli to Chelsea. The 32-year-old midfielder spent over four years at the Premier League side before leaving them for Arsenal in January 2023.
The manager has used Jorginho’s spell at Chelsea under his orders as an example to take a dig at the English press.
“He is a player of monstrous tactical intelligence and has made the career he deserved. The English press claimed in my Chelsea days that he was too deficient in interdiction and that Kanté should play in that role,” Sarri explained.
“Then after about 10 games the official statistics came out and the player who had recovered the most balls was Jorginho. He has an individual dribbling quality that unleashes the whole team, great player.”
