The former Chelsea and Juventus manager has been without a club since being sacked by Juventus after winning the Scudetto.
Follow Us
Maurizio Sarri is the new head coach of Serie A side SS Lazio, the club announced in a statement on Wednesday. The former Napoli, Chelsea and Juventus manager will replace Simone Inzaghi at the Rome based club. According to Italian media reports, Sarri has signed a two year contract with an option to extend to a third.
The 62-year-old guided Juventus to a ninth straight Serie A title before being sacked in August 2020. Since then he has been without a club. His impressive CV also includes a Europa League triumph with Chelsea in 2018/19.
“Lazio have chosen a coach whose standing is in line with the need to consolidate and grow, in Italy and Europe, the leading role that the club, its fans, and the team deserves to have,” SS Lazio president Claudio Lotito said in a statement.
Negotiations between manager and club went on for several days as Sarri insisted on bringing in his staff to Rome.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lazio teased the annoucement of their new manager. They simply posted an emoji of a cigarette on twitter and then wrote in Italian “who has a light”. They then posted a collage of pictures including a bank and a hand holding a cigarette.
Sarri is well-known for his chain smoking habit and was a banker before entering management.
Inzaghi, who left for Champions Inter Milan after five years at the club, has done a very good job of guiding the team to two Italian Cup triumphs and a Copa Italia title. Lazio finished sixth in the Serie A last season.
According to Opta’s Stats, the Italian manager’s previous teams in Serie A averaged 1.96 goals and 2.16 points per game, which is higher than Inzaghi’s 1.78 points per game during his tenure at Lazio.
Sarri’s teams are known to play an attacking brand of football, which is known as the ‘Sarriball’. Lazio have been playing with a 3-5-2 formation under Inzaghi but Sarri mostly prefers 4-3-3. Hence the Biancocelesti will have to make some new signings for the tactical switch.
Therefore the club are already working on new targets and are linked to Nikola Maksimovic and Elseid Hysaj, according to Italian media reports. Both of them trained under Sarri at Napoli.
