Chelsea have announced that Maurizio Sarri has departed way with the club after just one year in charge.
The Italian’s job was cut short with the Blues as he looks to take charge of Serie A giants Juventus.
Sarri only endured a third of his three-year deal with the club that he signed for one year ago.
It is expected that Chelsea will receive a healthy sum of up to £5 million from Juventus for Sarri’s services next season.
How did Sarri perform?
Well, on paper he performed pretty well. In fact, of Chelsea’s last eight permanent mangers, Sarri has had the second highest win percentage behind only his predecessor Antonio Conte.
Sarri achieved a win percentage of 62% and helped them achieve 3rd place in the Premier League in his first season which is quite the achievement given how Manchester City and Liverpool blitzed the title race.
Furthermore, Sarri, for the first time in his career – won a major trophy with the Blues. He won the Europa League and did it more emphatically than any other manager has ever done it before without losing a single game and scoring the most goals in the competition’s history… not a bad effort.
Doomed from the start
Despite his successes, the Chelsea supporters never really took too well to Sarri. His brand of football was instantly deemed too slow and negative for the desired Chelsea way of football.
Chants around Stamford Bridge started as early as January for Sarri to be sacked and continued until the end of the season despite the good results.
Most of all, supports took a disliking to what Sarri did to fan favourite N’Golo Kante. His first action was to change the player from the position he was well renowned as the best in the world and moved him into a more advanced role where he undoubtably looked less comfortable.
In his place was Jorginho who had an underwhelming season for sure. He provided Chelsea with stability and was a key link in getting the ball from defence to midfield but ultimate lacked the defensive capabilities of a defensive midfielder. Sarri’s first signing for Chelsea may very well follow him to Juventus as he did from Napoli this time last year.
Who is next?
Chelsea legend Frank Lampard is the clear favourite for the job after his impressive start to life as a manger with Derby County. Chelsea won’t be expected to challenge or even win anything for the next couple of years so really just need a manager who gets the club and the fans will love. Lampard fits the bill entirely.
Rafa Benitez has also been mentioned but not in the same light as the Chelsea all-time leading goal scorer.
With their transfer ban too, Chelsea will need a manager who is keen on promoting youth players as Lampard has already done with the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount and Harry Wilson at Derby. It is worth remembering that two of those three players actually play for Chelsea.