Maurizio Sarri has insisted that his time in charge of Napoli was a success after chairman Aurelio de Laurentiis criticised him for not winning a trophy in his three seasons at San Paolo.
Sarri finished in Serie A’s top three in each of his three seasons at Napoli, implementing a thrilling style of football that earned admirers across the football world, including Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
In the 2017-18 campaign, his team finished second to Juventus with 91 points, the most any team had amassed without winning a Serie A title.
Asked if he felt De Laurentiis’ criticism is fair, Sarri said with a smile: “I don’t know. He is talking about me because he is missing me.
“We didn’t win in Naples, but we had the record number of points for the club, and the second and third best. We qualified three times for the Champions League, and it was unusual for Naples. So I think we did very well. Nobody won in Italy except Juventus in the last seven years.”
Relations between De Laurentiis and Sarri soured during the prolonged negotiations that eventually brought the latter to Chelsea, with the Napoli chairman demanding compensation from the Blues to release the coach despite having already appointed Carlo Ancelotti as his successor.
Chelsea eventually broke the impasse by agreeing to pay around £50 million to sign Italy international Jorginho, but De Laurentiis reportedly insisted that the Blues pledge not to try to sign any more Napoli players and has since publicly criticised Sarri several times.
Asked if he misses De Laurentiis, Sarri replied: “At the moment, no.”
He added that he is not surprised to be the target of his outspoken former employer “because he is used to doing it.”
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