You’ve seen the Special One and the Fiery One... now get ready for THE FUNNY ONE
SARRI INSISTS HE FINDS THE TRANSFER MARKET BORING AND WANTS TO INJECT SOME FUN, ENJOYMENT - AND EVEN MORE SUCCESS BACK INTO THE BRIDGE
AFTER Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri appears to be the perfect opposite.
The second half of Conte’s Chelsea reign was a turbulent one, with the Italian at war with the Blues board over transfers and his players worn down by his demanding approach.
So it was clear to see why Chelsea turned to Sarri as his successor, putting aside his lack of silverware and some controversial comments in the process.
Sarri, 59, declared himself “bored by the transfer market,” which after Conte’s near-constant sniping will be music to the Chelsea hierarchy’s ears.
And, as opposed to Conte’s “work, work, work” mantra, Sarri wants to inject some fun – a word he used repeatedly during his Stamford Bridge unveiling yesterday – back into Chelsea.
Sarri has plenty of work to do having been officially appointed just three weeks before the Community Shield against Manchester City. And he admitted: “There are preparation difficulties and I will have to solve it together with my staff.”
But the former Napoli boss will ease his workload by staying out of the transfer process. Smartly-suited Sarri, who spoke mainly in Italian and hopes his English will be good enough in a few weeks, said: “I feel much more like a pitch manager than a general manager.
“I am one of the few managers who
is bored by the transfer market. I don’t want to talk about the transfer market and am not that interested in it. Our task as manager is growing the players that we have.”
How will he do that? “I need to have fun in order to do well,” said Sarri, who also includes Empoli and Perugia on his managerial CV.
“I have also noticed that something changed in the Premier League in the last year. It is not a typically English squad in terms of players. This has given me confidence, but I know that it will be difficult.
“I am convinced if a team has fun, often the fans have fun too. Then we must have high-level objectives, but we must start by having fun. This is important for us and our fans.
“My goal is to have fun as long as I am here and possibly be competitive in all the competitions right until the end.
“In life the biggest gift that you can receive is to have fun while you do your job. Few do that and I had fun last year.
“It is not a sport but a game. Anyone who started doing it (playing football), it was to have fun. The child in each of us must be nurtured. This often makes us the best.
“The professional aspect also makes the best, but trying to create a player that has fun is the first step to obtaining everything else from a high-level squad.”
Sarri was keen to point out, though, that winning is just as important as enjoyment. His appointment is a departure from Chelsea’s norm of appointing proven winners as he has yet to win a trophy as a manager.
But he added: “It’s true I’ve not won anything, but I have been in Serie A for four or five years and, apart from Juventus, no one has won anything.
“We (Napoli) have had three years in a row with club records for points – 82, 86 and 91 points. We have worked well.
“The difference between working well and winning is minimal. I hope that with this club I can fill in the gap between working well and winning.”