20 June 2019
Today, Maurizio Sarri addressed the media for the first time as the new head coach of Juventus, where he talked about the importance of joining “the most important team in Italy” and admitted that his arrival in Turin is “the crowning achievement” of his career.
Speaking in front of a packed audience in the Umberto and Gianni Agnelli Suite at Allianz Stadium, the 60-year-old spoke openly and passionately about the new challenge that lies ahead of him.
JOINING JUVENTUS
“I am happy to be here at Juventus today. At Napoli I have everything, and then I decided to have a beautiful experience in the Premier League. Juventus, the biggest club in Italy at the moment, gave me an opportunity to return to Italy. It's the crowning achievement of a very long career. I have never seen such determination from a club when it came to hiring a coach like me. They showed a great attitude which convinced me. They were strong feelings.
THE CHANGES OF SERIE A COACHES
"I'm happy with the uproar I'm seeing Serie A in. It's an exciting year for the coaches, there are conditions to create something interesting and fill the gap with the Premier League, but it will be a long way.
WHAT HE EXPECTS AT JUVE
“I expect to wake up each morning and study each possible way of winning the matches. It's not a mechanism: to win again and again is always harder than winning. Juventus have an obligation to always win straight away. There is a need to have clear ideas over two or three players who can make the difference and put them in an environment to express themselves to the maximum. Then the formation will be dictated by that. It's been a long journey for me made up of gradual steps. I'm happy to be at the most important team in Italy and this is a further step forward after the experience at Chelsea. For me, the teams that I have worked for, I have given 110% and I will do so also for this club.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CLUB
“I have seen that this club is very compact, and I was impressed because the human aspect counts a lot. Juventus is a strong group in terms of mentality and determination. I arrive with skepticism as I did with all the clubs where I joined. I also understand that the same will be about me, because of my past experience. But I only know one method to remove the skepticism: win, convince, entertain and make results.
DYBALA & RONALDO
“At Chelsea I trained many strong players, but to coach Cristiano Ronaldo is emotional, because it a step forward. I would like to help him to break even more records. When a player has the quality like Paulo Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo, they can play in any role. The only thing that can change is the interpretation of the role.
SARRISMO & PHILOSOPHY OF PLAY
“The goal of entertaining on the pitch is not incompatible with winning. Often the enthusiasm generated by a team on the field having fun gives them more energy. The Napoli squad was a team of players serving the team. Chelsea has technically superior players but with different characteristics, so with less fluidity but the same effectiveness and solidity. The training sessions should be adapted to the group. The philosophy of play remains the same, but there is a need to have mental fluidity in order adapt to the characteristics of the players. In the last few years I always started the season with one formation and then ended it with another. I don't know what "Sarrismo" is. I read about it but I have always been so, changing thanks to experiences, but remaining faithful to the concepts. I am a direct person, perhaps too much, and this leads to clashes, but they are solvable.
TOUCHING ON THE PLAYERS
“We have to start with the talented players, the ones who make the difference, for example: Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala, Douglas Costa and other talented players, in order to build around them. I will listen to the club a lot, who know the players better than me, because it would be a lack of respect to impose my opinion. Bernardeschi is a player I like. He has great quality: coordination. He lacks a bit of continuity. He is at the time of his career when he has to specialise.
ALLEGRI’S LEGACY
“Allegri leaves a heavy legacy. Winning what he won is very difficult, he achieved extraordinary results and I would like to see in the team the same ability to get past the difficulties that he was able to help them do so."
“We are happy that Sarri is here with us. We had clear ideas from the very beginning, but we needed to have respect for a coach who was under contract at a club, and I thank Chelsea for their professionalism. We needed to respect the conditions. We are here to win. The choice (to let go of Allegri) was not led by style of play, we believed that the connection between the coach, fans, club and squad was starting to fade away, and so we took the decision to change. Maurizio Sarri was always the first choice. We tried from the very beginning to make him understand that we truly wanted him.
