Maurizio Sarri led Empoli out of Serie B before taking Napoli to a second-place finish in Serie A. He used many of the same practices and many of the same players over the six years, raising further questions about what can be applied and how he could adapt to Chelsea.
Like many coaches, Maurizio Sarri has his trusted system that has brought him to where he is today. His career is a positive tale of upward mobility, demonstrating the success of his methods. However, at some point, managers must adapt, particularly when making a significant move. Sarri has only ever managed in Italy, and has never dealt with the pressures and expectations of a club like Chelsea.
Sarri managed Empoli for three seasons before his three seasons at Napoli. At both clubs, Sarri minimally rotated his squads throughout the seasons. More concerning, he relied on some of the same key players in both clubs. Five Empoli players followed Sarri to Napoli. Three went directly: Lorenzo Tonnelli, Mirko Valdifiori (now at Torino) and Elseid Hysaj. Mario Rui and Piotr Zielinski made their way back to Sarri via loan flows.
Sarri has a particular affinity for Elseid Hysaj. For four of the last six seasons, Hysaj was the youngest player to amass 2,000 league minutes under Sarri. This was the case when Hysaj was an 18-year old at Empoli in the second tier, and it was the case last season when Hysaj was a 24-year old at Napoli. In their first season together at Napoli (their fourth, total) Hysaj was the only player under 23 with greater than 1,500 league minutes.
Tonnelli, Zielinski and Rui were among the few other Empoli players under 23 to see more than 1,500 minutes per season. Last season at Napoli, only one player outside the usual XI saw more than 1,500 minutes: Piotr Zielinski.
Sarri’s use of Empoli’s young players like Elseid Hysaj, Lorenzo Tonnelli and Piotr Zielinski may have been driven by necessity more than a belief in youth development. Empoli spent no money on incoming transfers in Sarri’s first and third seasons with the club. Zero euros, zero pounds, zero lira, zero dollars. In his second season, they spent €300,000. The average transfer spend in Serie B that year was €1.89 million. Empoli’s spend was 16% of the average.
As mentioned in the earlier article on this topic, only Amadou Diawara has “broken through” under Maurizio Sarri at Napoli. But the 20-year old Diawara played just over half as many minutes in his second season as in his first. Those minutes ended up with more experienced players. Napoli’s starting XI had over 2,000 minutes each, and only one other player had over 1,000.
The moves from Serie B to Serie A and then from Serie A new arrival to Serie A title contender exacerbated Sarri’s management practices. A move from Napoli to Chelsea would be similarly dramatic. Nothing in his career suggests he will reverse these trends.
Sarri’s CV is conspicuously bereft of the two elements of squad development Chelsea fans hold against Antonio Conte. Sarri does not have a record of continually progressing youth into the first team, nor has he managed a strategic inflow of transfers.
For the sake of argument, let’s say Maurizio Sarri arrived at Chelsea and restarted the cycle he began at Empoli. Instead of Hysaj, Tonnelli and Zielinski, he gives over 2,000 minutes to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi. And he stays with them for six years, this time all at Stamford Bridge. Would those youth of today block the youth of tomorrow? Hysaj, Tonnelli and Zielinski were not at the van of a Sarri-led youth movement. They are Napoli’s nod to youth, but they are closer in age to Eden Hazard than they are to Mason Mount.
Would Sarri know how to incorporate Martell Taylor-Crossdale, Billy Gilmour and Marc Guehi into the 2022/23 squad alongside the veterans Loftus-Cheek, Mount and Hudson-Odoi? And would he also be able to manage the addition of the necessary world-class transfers over that time span?
Maybe. We don’t know. And that’s the point. Maurizio Sarri simply does not have a history of doing the things Chelsea would ostensibly hire him to do. He does, though, have a history of doing the things Antonio Conte is ostensibly being sacked over.
More than that, he has a history of doing the things that hold back other Premier League coaches and clubs. Sarri has a corps of players who have followed him across tiers and clubs. So does Jose Mourinho. Sarri built an Empoli team on youth because his club were not active (at all) in the transfer market. Same with Tottenham.
Chelsea are already several years behind Liverpool and Manchester City, who are showing how long-term builds are more effective than plug-and-play managers. The Blues have to get this decision right. They need a manager who can build and mould a winning squad from all sources: youth progression, loan returnees, top-level transfers and matching the players with the tactics. Above all, they cannot be in this position again.
We make no secrets around here about our preference for Antonio Conte to continue the work he has started with two trophies in two seasons. If Chelsea choose to go with Sarri, no one should act surprised if he is everything that brought down Conte.
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