Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri confirms he only learned Napoli had sacked him “by seeing it on television” and insists Gonzalo Higuain “isn’t a traitor.”
The Coach registered a new points record and was leading the Serie A table for most of last season before a late capitulation saw Juventus grab their seventh consecutive Scudetto.
Sarri asked for some time to consider his future and Napoli hired Carlo Ancelotti, although it took over a month of legal wrangling to finally release the tactician for his move to Chelsea.
“It’s true, I found out that I wasn’t the Napoli Coach anymore by seeing it on television,” Sarri told Il Mattino newspaper.
“I had some doubts, that’s fair, but there was a clause in the contract and it wasn’t something I had asked for. It was not respected in the timing. Now I hope that Ancelotti can achieve what I came so close to."
Although he had very public spats with President Aurelio De Laurentiis, the former Empoli boss insists he is “grateful, because he gave me the opportunity to be Coach of Napoli. I am very fond of his son (Vice-President Edoardo De Laurentiis).”
Sarri isn’t the only one who clashed with De Laurentiis, as Higuain famously left for rivals Juventus in 2016, earning the ire of Napoli fans.
“Higuain isn’t a traitor and didn’t betray anyone. His problem was purely with the President.”
The full interview will be published on Friday morning.