Serie-A giant, Juventus says it has sacked its coach, Maurizio Sarri, following the club’s failure to progress to the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition Champions League in the hands of Lyon.
The club at the weekend decided that the 61-year-old former Chelsea and Napoli boss is no longer the man to take the club forward with Juve’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid making clear that their intention was to win the Champions League after several years of near-misses.
A club statement reads: “Juventus announces that Maurizio Sarri has been relieved of his post as coach of the first team.
“The club would like to thank the coach for having written a new page in Juventus’ history with the victory of the ninth-consecutive championship, the culmination of a personal journey that led him to climb all the divisions of Italian football.”
Sarri’s future had been previously called into question despite leading the club to a ninth-successive Scudetto, with the former banker admitting himself that he had been struggling to impose his famous ‘Sarriball’ style on the squad.
Indeed, following the first-leg defeat against Lyon, Sarri stated that his charges had been moving the ball too slow but that he would continue working with his players until “sooner or later this concept will get into their heads”.
That admission will have done the Italian few favours as the board considered their options, with the feeling amongst those in charge that the head coach had failed to win over the players and that a new approach would be required to see the club progress.
It is understood that internal discussions are still in their infancy and no moves have been made to contact potential successors