Former Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri says he could return to management in January, and explained why Juventus weren’t ready for his style of football. Sarri left Lazio last season and has yet to be linked to a new coaching role. Speaking with La Gazzetta dello Sport, he looked back at his career to date, explaining why he hopes to return to the bench as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately, even without the ball, I still smoke a lot, too much. With the start of the new season, my desire to be involved, to return to the field has grown strong.”
Are you waiting for a team for next summer or hoping to return as early as January?
“I hope before January. It will depend on the situations, the offers I receive, the motivations. On the phone call that will transmit more adrenaline to me.”
Where do you dream of a last dance?
“I don’t see myself at the last dance! I still want to coach and I think I’m in a position to be able to give something. It’s true that young people are fashionable at the moment, but last year the three European cups were won by coaches my age: Ancelotti in Champions League, Gasperini in Europa League and Mendilibar in Conference. Same for De la Fuente, coach of the European champion Spain.”
If you close your eyes and try to dream of an experience you’d like to have sooner or later?
“Boca Juniors would be a final dream, crazy, I don’t know if achievable. A few games at the Bombonera would be a unique experience.”
In Serie A, almost all the coaches have changed: which coaches are impressing you?
“A bit of the post-European and a bit of the first three matchdays played with the transfer market open: coaches are just starting to work now. Playing with ongoing negotiations is something anomalous: I’ve always said it and I was seen as a complainer. Now everyone says it… Let’s wait for a few more games to understand. Jurgen Klopp, actually, said that it takes two years to judge a coach’s work.”
Sacchi and Capello have indicated Inter as the favorite for the Scudetto: do you agree?
“That’s the first impression. But I’m waiting for the evolution of many teams. There’s Motta’s Juve to see. And also Conte’s Napoli.”
You didn’t mention Milan: forgetfulness or does the difficult start affect them?
“Milan can also have a positive evolution, the squad is strong. Same goes for Roma, which has added new players.”
Among Milan fans, there are also those who hope to see you on the Rossoneri bench…
“It seems wrong to talk about it at this moment, respect is needed. Paulo Fonseca is a good coach and a level headed man, I’ve met him in person: he’s at the beginning of a journey and it’s right that he stays calm. I don’t want to enter into these discussions.”
Motta is a new revolutionary attempt by Juventus after yours and the 2020 Scudetto: many say so, but do you see yourself in Thiago or are we talking about two different films?
“They are different films. When I arrived, at Juventus there were no prerequisites for a cultural revolution. At this moment, however, I think there are. We’re at the beginning, but in flashes you can see Motta’s will to do something different.”
On the web, a joke was circulating during the transfer market. Sarri had Cristiano Ronaldo, Motta has Cristiano… Giuntoli: would you have swapped with Thiago?
“Ronaldo with me had his best scoring season in Italy: 37 goals between the league and Cups. With Giuntoli we achieved great things in the 3 years at Napoli. The ideal would be to have the two Cristianos simultaneously.”
Your ideal center-forward was Higuain: can you tell us an anecdote about Pipita?
“When I arrived in Naples, he wanted to leave. I convinced him in 5 minutes: I told him that with the football I wanted to propose, he would score avalanches of goals. From that time, when I argued with him I always said: Gonzalo, agree with me now, you’ll agree with me in three days anyway. Higuain at one hundred percent is my ideal centre-forward, but he would be for any coach. Absolute top.”
After the summer revolution, will Giuntoli bring Juventus back to winning the Scudetto?
“He will certainly succeed, I don’t know in what time frame. But he will win with Juve too. He’s a director who quickly understands ideas and characteristics of the ideal players for his coach. And then he has immense courage, which he transmits to the team and staff. For the esteem I have for Cristiano, I’m sure he had his reasons for making such a sharp turn.”
You won Juventus’ last Scudetto: was it your highest point?
“I don’t live much on memories, I keep a copy of the trophy in the room with shirts and pennants from my career and all categories. I don’t stop to look at the Scudetto, I pass by it. Characteristically, victory embarrasses me, Buffon once told me something similar. The title with Juve the highest point? People think that winning is everything. For me it’s important, but the journey is more so. And I’ve made wonderful journeys without triumphing.”
Are you more surprised by De Laurentiis being so silent in recent times or by the over one hundred million he spent on the transfer market this summer?
“I’m admired by Conte. Antonio, besides being a great coach, has this ability to make his clubs invest. Napoli has built a strong team and Antonio will realize an important cycle. I don’t know if he’ll win immediately, but Conte’s history is that. Aurelio is impulsive in character, but under his management Napoli has grown and I’ll always be grateful to him for letting me coach the team of my heart. His silences are surprising, but I hope it’s the beginning of something positive.”
You resigned from Lazio in March: regrets?
“No. For me it was a moment of inner and personal fragility. There were situations I didn’t like. In those cases: either you renew the coach or you fire him. Or the coach resigns. And I did it. Immobile, Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson leaving? I’m not surprised, the feeling within the environment was that the cycle had ended.”
Corsi, De Laurentiis, Abramovich, Agnelli, Lotito: who is more competent in football?
“Tactically, Fabrizio Corsi.”
The most entertaining at dinner?
“Beyond the differences, they are great characters. Lotito at dinner is a hoot, then you can argue with him discussing football. The most brilliant? De Laurentiis passes for not being generous, but at Christmas he always made important gifts.”
If you were a fly, would you prefer to see up close how Ancelotti manages to make Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham and Real’s stars coexist or how Guardiola manages to stimulate Haaland and City’s champions after so many years of triumphs?
“I know Carlo and Pep personally, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them on the field and spending time with them. Ancelotti transmits serenity, it’s an innate quality: trying to replicate it wouldn’t be credible. Guardiola is a genius, always evolving: tactically he’s the best in the world. Pep is sick with football like Sacchi and I are: imagine when we get together. However…”
However…
“You learn from everyone, especially from those you know less. An example? Possanzini’s Mantova impresses me for how they play out from the back with the ball and for their ball possession. I’d like to go see his training sessions.”
Which team do you watch on TV if you want to have fun?
“I watch cycling. The important races are a family tradition, those with my father and my son are real reunions.”
Koop, Calhanoglu, Loftus-Cheek: who is the strongest midfielder in the league?
“I’m fond of Loftus, whom I coached at Chelsea. But we’re talking about different players: comparing them would be fantasy football, not football.”
Szczesny retired at 34, Rabiot at 29 found himself among the free agents this September: what idea have you formed?
“Tek’s choice struck me. Adrien hasn’t shown all his potential yet, in training he was super. If he’s arrived at September without a team, it’s not because nobody wants him: he must be waiting.”
A player you’d like to coach?
“I’ll say two Italians: Berardi and Tonali. A team to have a soul must have a block of players from its own country. I’m happy for Italy’s victory under Spalletti against France, maybe a new cycle has begun. Probably we arrived at the European Championship drained, those who do football know: it’s everyone’s fault and no one’s. Nice to see Buffon in the National team: at Juve he helped me enormously.”
Would there be room for Sinner in your team or, being a tennis player, would he be too individualistic for your taste?
“I wish I had Sinners in the team, with his mental strength and ability to always stay in the game and almost always win it. He has zeroed out superficiality. It would be a fortune for any coach.”
Years ago Allegri argued that football is simple. While Spalletti, after the Napoli Scudetto, said we need to stop saying that. Who do you side with?
“As Johan Cruyff said, not Maurizio Sarri, football would be simple, but making a team play simple football is the hardest thing in the world.”
If you look back, do you need to apologize to anyone in football?
“To Christian Maggio. I apologized personally when we met again a few months ago in Coverciano. My last game at Napoli coincided with his farewell to the Azzurri: caught up in the desire to finish with 91 points, I didn’t let him come off the bench. I was wrong.”
