Chelsea Manager Maurizio Sarri admits that he still doesn’t know why his former club, Napoli, sacked him in May. He also said that he learned of his ouster via television reports!
Sarri, who was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti this off-season, led the Serie A side for three seasons. Although he never won a trophy with the club, he did break the club record for Serie A season points three times, achieving a higher total each season.
Napoli finished in third place once, and runners-up the other two years. Despite having a year left on his contract, he was still dismissed.
“I still don’t know (why I was sacked),” Sarri said in an interview with Il Mattino.
“You’d have to ask the club. But now I’ve got Chelsea and I’m delighted. There were reasons why I wanted to stay at Napoli and there were reasons why I had some doubts.
“The contract that the president wanted included a release clause that expired on May 31, yet on May 21, they already signed a contract with Ancelotti.”
Sarri, who has led Chelsea to a perfect start this young season, learned of his dismissal from Napoli via television, when he saw a television report on Ancelotti. At the time, Sarri was unsure himself about his future with the club.
“I was out for dinner with (Giuseppe) Pompilio, the assistant of (Sporting Director Cristiano) Giuntoli, and I was talking to him about whether I should stay or not,” Sarri continued.
“We turned the TV on and saw Ancelotti walking into Filmauro (a movie company run by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis). What did I think? I’ll keep my initial thought to myself.”
Ancelotti was officially named the club’s new manager a few days later, and Sarri then had to deal with a prolonged contract release clause battle before being able to finally move on to Chelsea.
The Blues were dealing with another elongated contract release saga themselves, with then manager Antonio Conte. Dealing with two contract release issues at the same time, the club’s managerial regime change didn’t materialize until much later than they had hoped.
Sarri, who got into a public war of words with De Laurentiis a couple of weeks ago, thanked his former boss for initially giving him a chance later on in the interview.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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