Maurizio Sarri is in the lead of the slightly-grounded-in-reality race to replace Antonio Conte. But Sarri is mostly a proxy for what Chelsea fans really want: Napoli’s players.
Chelsea have a particularly poor record of negotiating transfers with Napoli. This history – much of it wrapped around Kalidou Koulibaly – along with the Blues’ overall string of summer disappointments is now influencing the conversation around who could replace Antonio Conte. Maurizio Sarri has become the most popular candidate, as much for who people want him to bring with him as for his actual managerial abilities.
The recent batch of Sarri rumours list the players he could bring to Chelsea. In some cases, he might even insist upon them. The rumours have Koulibaly, Jorginho, Dries Mertens or Elseid Hysaj leaving Napoli with Sarri.
Sarri is an attractive target because he has Napoli playing attractive football. At an appropriately simplified level, he is the anti-Conte for 2017/18. Both teams are disciplined and well-drilled. But whereas Conte is extending Chelsea’s heritage as a defence-first club favouring counter-attacks over possession, Sarri plays a pass- and possession-intensive style. Napoli plays long progressions, with passes soaring diagonally in both directions when not fluidly swarming through midfield.
Sarri-ball is what many Chelsea fans want to see at Stamford Bridge. Part of Sarri’s remarkable success is how little he has relied on transfers to build a squad that can execute his vision. He has trained the players the club gave him to play his way. He has taken a previously unheralded group to within a few points of dethroning Juventus.
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This makes the talk of the accompanying transfers that much more conflicted. If a key element of Sarri’s appeal is his ability to produce greatness with the squad he has, why would he need (or want) to bring “his players” with him? If Chelsea’s board will appreciate not having to spend money or listen to a manager’s complaints about the lack of transfers, why force them to do even more business with Aurelio de Laurentiis after prying away his manager?
Very few managers can convince players to follow them from one club to the next. Managers and players have distinct and sometimes diverging interests, leading them to break up what is to all appearances a good thing. Part of being a well-rounded professional manager is being able to work with a variety of players, and vice versa. And sometimes when players follow a manager from one club to another, that manager has an emotional and psychological effect on his players ranging verging from charismatic into creepy (Sound like anyone you know?).
A squad’s success is very context dependent. Chelsea over the last three seasons are a perfect example of how managers, players and their league uniquely create the result. This makes coaches like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson so remarkable. They repeated their successes even after a complete turnover of their context.
Maurizio Sarri has accomplished a lot, but at the top level it has only been in one context. If he wants to continue developing as a manager and prove he is not limited to his current set-up, he will have to approach his next job on its unique set of circumstances. He will know that what he has now with Napoli is just that: now with Napoli. Stringing Kalidou Koulibaly, Jorginho and Dries Mertens with him to west London is no guarantee of success.
If Chelsea need players, they should go after those players directly. They should not use a new manager as a means to bring in the players they want. On the off-chance it happens, it is a recipe for that manager taking the players with him when he leaves.
Next: Five top prospects and four wild-cards to replace Antonio Conte
Chelsea have plenty of reasons to be interested in Maurizio Sarri. His current roster should not be among them.