It's too late to say Sarri for jaded Juventus
Juventus sacking manager Maurizio Sarri in August 2020 proved to be a disaster, with ‘Sarri ball’ now revolutionising Lazio, while Juve is on the decline with Massimiliano Allegri at the helm.
In July 2020, Maurizio Sarri led Juventus to its ninth-straight league title - two weeks later, he was sacked after losing to Lyon in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. Two years on, the Old Lady is worse off under Massimiliano Allegri - now eighth in Serie A and resigned to a Champions League group stage exit.
Allegri’s return in May 2021 was met with resounding optimism, the manager having won 11 trophies in five years and two UEFA Champions League runner-up medals in his first stint in Turin from 2014-2019.
Allegri’s allure and proven success earned him a $A14 million per-year salary – the highest of any manager in Italy’s top flight, but the investment has thus far proved a bust.
The heralded return has turned tragic, and with another three years left to run on the 55 year-old's mega deal, is cash-strapped employer faces a dilemma - to pay out the contract and start over, or wait and hope things improve.
The Bianconeri faithful hope more spending will stop the rot, but the club’s financial muscle has atrophied in recent years.
Juventus’s financial books make for grim reading - no wonder chairman Andrea Agnelli remains hellbent on forming a breakaway European Super League. The Old Lady has posted substantial losses in each of the last five seasons. Most recently, $253.3 million in 2022-2023 and $209 million in the financial year prior to that.
Juventus discarded Sarri in 2020 and now he's back, giving Lazio what his former employer desperately needs– a meticulously-assembled team playing an expansive, daring and energetic brand of football.
At Lazio, Sarri’s side overwhelms opposition with a high press in defence and marauding full-backs in attack, given license to bomb forward and find the likes of Ciro Immobile and Felipe Anderson in the box.
By contrast at Juve, Allegri is old school – pragmatic, possession-based and measured, with an often stagnant build up in attack. With Serbian goal machine Dusan Vlahovic leading the line, Juve has still only managed 17 goals in 11 league games this season.
Juventus's financial situation has forced the club into patience with Allegri, but it’s come too late, it should have gone to Sarri.
For his part, the embattled manager famously said this season would be a tale of two halves. Pre World Cup and post World Cup.
If Allegri is to keep his job, the half-time team talk needs to be a good one, because his second half of the season will has to be magical.
