Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed the contractual clause he made new Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri sign before sanctioning his move to Stamford Bridge.
Sarri has spent most of his career in the lower reaches of Italian football, but he has won many admirers in recent seasons for the progressive possession based tactics his Napoli side became synonymous with.
Napoli pushed Juventus all the way in Serie A last season, but were ultimately unable to break the Old Lady’s stranglehold on the Serie A crown, despite amassing an impressive 91 points.
Sarri it seems wanted to take the core of that side with him to London, but outspoken Napoli supremo De Laurentiis made him sign a contract stipulating that the only player he could bring with him was midfield metronome Jorginho, who Chelsea duly signed recently for £57 million.
“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,” De Laurentiis said in quotes carried by the London Evening Standard.
“There was a huge battle to take more of our players but they didn’t manage it.”
Jorginho touched the ball 101 times and made 98 successful passes on his Chelsea debut.
He only played 45 minutes. pic.twitter.com/pHtlO4O6Nh
— Standard Sport (@standardsport) July 23, 2018
Chelsea begin their Premier League campaign away to Huddersfield Town on August 11.