Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri has admitted he does not know if he will still be at the club next season after their Serie A title bid was all but ended.
Sunday’s 2-2 draw at home to Torino effectively handed the title to Juventus, who head into the final two games of the season — including a home game with relegated Hellas Verona — needing just a point to be certain of a seventh straight Scudetto.
President Aurelio De Laurentiis was highly critical of Sarri in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday and it is looking increasingly likely that the coach will leave, although he still has a year left to run on his contract.
De Laurentiis accused Sarri of getting his rotation policy wrong by picking the same players every game, which meant they had run out of puff come the business end of the season.
“We had to bring our preseason training camp forward because we were playing in the Champions League playoff, so this early start meant we were out of gas already in April,” he said. “We could have avoided this dip if only we had used all of the players in the squad.
“We were even 17 points clear of third place and were top after 24 games of the season. We could have rested some players to keep them fresh for the end of the season, but that didn’t happen.”
De Laurentiis also said Sarri was wrong for treating the Europa League as an inconvenience rather than an opportunity. “I would never have given up on Europe,” he said. “We lost the first leg against Leipzig [in the round of 32] because on the eve of the game, he made it clear that the Europa League meant little or nothing to him.
“Remarks like these can demotivate players. Then in Leipzig we showed that we can win, but that wasn’t enough. [Whether we continue] with or without Sarri is up to him. I don’t think we should be insisting with him now, he needs to be left in peace to do his work. I’ve spoken to him several times since January and if he wants to stay in the end, then it would be a great pleasure for me. But if somebody wants to pay the release clause, I couldn’t do anything.”
But Sarri, who has been linked with the manager’s job at Arsenal, inisted he would have a “clear conscience” if he were to leave Naples in the summer after three years at the helm.
“We’ve still got to play two great games and not consider our season over yet,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia. “We need to break through the 90-point barrier — that’s something I care about dearly and I know I’m going to get very angry these days [if we don’t] and then we will have 10 days to evaluate the situation.
“There’s a contract which has an €8 million release clause, but there is also a clause that Napoli can activate which is much lower. [De Laurentiis] has been thinking out loud. The president is the man who brought me here to coach Napoli, who are the club I supported as a child and it was a life’s dream.
“He’s the one who has helped me live all that we have lived together and if he’s happy, I’m happy. I know that I’ve given everything and if he’s not happy, then I’m sorry but I have a clear conscience. De Laurentiis now and again makes remarks which need to be taken as they are — half an hour later, he goes back to being how he was.
“It’s now up to the club. If it’s impossible to keep hold of six or seven of these players, then this cycle is over. This is a group of players who have a work ethic and who want people to be talking about them. Without a few serious injuries, we could have done a bit better, but some players who could have been given a rest in certain situations could also have done better.”
Sarri’s only regret is not having delivered the Scudetto that the Napoli fans have been craving for 28 years, despite going closer than ever.
“I’m sorry I’ve not been able to have made these extraordinary fans happy,” Sarri said. “With a clear mind, I have to say that Napoli are not equipped to compete with Juventus in certain aspects. We played an extraordinary season, but we were also unlucky.
“In four minutes, we went from being able to go above Juve to being four points behind them; we were unlucky with [Arkadiusz] Milik’s and [Faouzi] Ghoulam’s injuries and when you have a small squad like ours, they are hard to overcome.
“We were unlucky because today we hit the woodwork for the 18th time. All I say is that with a few more fortunate circumstances, we could have been more competitive.”
Napoli can still mathematically catch and beat Juve to the title, but for that to happen they would need the Bianconeri to lose at Roma next weekend and at home to already relegated Hellas on the final day of the season.
Napoli would also need to win their games at Sampdoria and against Crotone, and overturn a 16-goal deficit on their rivals in the process.
Ben Gladwell reports on Serie A, the Italian national team and the Bundesliga for ESPN FC, UEFA and the Press Association. @UEFAcomBenG.
Be the first to comment