Maurizio Sarri reveals ‘fundamental mistake’ he made at Chelsea

Maurizio Sarri has described his decision to leave Chelsea as a ‘fundamental mistake’ in his career.

The 65-year-old spent just one season at Stamford Bridge but guided Chelsea to victory over Arsenal in the Europa League final in 2019, while his side also reached the Carabao Cup final earlier that year but were beaten on penalties by Manchester City at Wembley.

Sarri then opted to leave Chelsea that summer in order to return to Italy and join Juventus but the Italian regrets his move away from the Premier League.

When asked about his time at Chelsea, Sarri told Sky Sports Italy: ‘Fundamental mistake in my career.

‘There were the conditions to stay, a difficult club where you probably don’t finish the second season as happened to everyone in the Abramovic era. But you remained in the Premier League circle.

‘We made a good journey. The year first the team finished in fifth place, then we finished third behind Liverpool and City who had more than anything else. We won the Europa League with 13 wins and lost a League Cup final on penalties against City afterwards having eliminated Liverpool and Tottenham who reached the Champions League final that year.

‘I made a huge mistake that I had to avoid. The desire to return to Italy had to be lower than the desire to stay in the Premier League, which had to be higher.’

Meanwhile, Antonio Conte has been appointed as Napoli’s head coach this week and Sarri believes his former club will finish in the top three in Serie A next season.

‘Napoli will have a journey ahead of them, with a change in the way they play,’ Sarri said.

‘Luckily, Conte is very quick in these situations to convey his mentality and his way of playing. I don’t see them outside the top three.’

Sarri has been out of management since resigning as Lazio’s head coach in March but is now keen to make a return.

‘Let’s hope as soon as possible, I spent the first two months with family problems and the rest where I didn’t have great nostalgia for football,’ he said.

‘Now the desire is growing again and so I think that in a month or two I’ll be ready to go.

‘I think it’s difficult at this point of the market to find a solution that is not foreign but I find it difficult to go abroad.’

Asked about a potential move to Sevilla, Sarri replied: ‘There was a little bit of negotiation but they had different needs from mine so it didn’t go very far.’

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