3 ways in which Maurizio Sarri's departure would affect Chelsea negatively
It's official! After weeks of speculation, Maurizio Sarri would be managing Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus next season after both clubs involved in the deal announced the move.
It brings an end to a successful but highly divisive one-year spell at Stamford Bridge where the 60-year-old Italian faced constant criticism for his tactical predictability, redeployment of N'Golo Kante, and neglect of youth, among others.
While Sarri's departure might be cheered as good news by some sections of The Blues fanbase, it could actually turn out to be detrimental for them. In this piece, we shall be taking a look at three reasons why Sarri's departure to Juventus could affect Chelsea negatively.
#3 Putting Jorginho in a tactical conundrum
Maurizio Sarri made a name for himself with his feats on the bench for Napoli, with the Naples native winning plaudits for his managerial style of the Pertenopei and drew comparisons for the similarity between his and Pep Guardiola's playing pattern.
The fulcrum through which his Napoli side operated was Jorginho and it came as no surprise when Sarri asked the Chelsea board to bring the midfielder to the club, with the 27-year-old arriving the same day as his former manager.
Sarri caused major discontent among the Chelsea fanbase when he deployed the Italian international as the pivot of his midfield, pushing N'golo Kante (considered by many to be the premier defensive midfielder in the world) further up the field.
Jorginho is the player through which Sarri's play works and the fact that he topped the Premier League passing charts with 3,118 passes is indicative of just how central he is to Sarri's gameplan.
Any incoming manager is unlikely to share the same footballing philosophy with Sarri and is more than likely to redeploy N'golo Kante in his preferred position at the base of midfield.
This puts Jorginho in a sort of tactical limbo, as his limited skillset means that he cannot really be played anywhere else across the midfield.
He lacks the physicality and pace to act as a ball-carrying midfielder and this would prove to be a major conundrum for the incoming manager.
Jorginho was signed for the sum of £57m, just one year on from arriving at the club. Sarri's departure means that there would be a tactical dilemma in midfield for the next coach.