Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri must win trophies - not just entertain - to be a great coach, says Napoli president

Substance: Maurizio Sarri warned his style of play may not win trophies
Getty Images

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri must win trophies, and not just play entertaining football, to be considered a great coach, says Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Sarri swapped Naples for Stamford Bridge earlier this month after two thrilling seasons at San Paolo which saw the club come close to ending their 28-year Scudetto drought.

Napoli's football won plaudits across Europe, Pep Guardiola was a notable and vocal fan, but the club ultimately found themselves empty-handed in both the league and cups during Sarri's two-year reign.

Sarri is now tasked with returning Chelsea to the summit of English football after a fifth-placed finish last season, and his former employer, De Laurentiis, has warned him his tactical approach must have substance as well as style.

"Yes. [he is a genius], but he's also very set in his ways," De Laurentiis told reporters. "He would only use the same 11-13 players and it's impossible to compete in two competition when you do that.

"A real, bona fide coach has to win things - not just entertain."

Jorginho followed Sarri from Naples to London, the pair arriving in a joint deal worth around £57million, and De Laurentiis says his former manager was only allowed to take one player with him to avoid dismantling the Napoli squad.

He added: "I only let him go once he had signed a contract which stated he would not be allowed to sign any of our players - apart from Jorginho.

"There was a huge battle to take more of our players but they didn't manage it.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in