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Maurizio Sarri’s tenure as Chelsea manager is reportedly coming to and end soon after just a year at the helm, with a move to Juventus expected to be announced in the coming days.
Juventus have seen the former Napoli manager as the prime candidate to succeed Massimiliano Allegri and are reportedly negotiating to buy out Sarri’s contract at Chelsea.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Sarri said: “For us Italians, the lure of going home is strong. You feel that something is missing. It was a heavy year. I began to feel the weight of distant friends, my elderly parents who I rarely see.”
The manager's seat at Chelsea is set to be vacant once again. Club legend Frank Lampard is the leading candidate to fill the role after guiding Derby County to the Championship playoff final in his first season in charge.
Harry Redknapp, Lampard's uncle and a former Premier League manager, summed up what is waiting for Lampard if he decides to take the job.
“It’s a big job at Chelsea next year with the transfer embargo and [potentially] losing Eden Hazard, I mean, my God, how do you replace him? He’s a special player. No one can fill those boots. He’s in the top five players in the world. They can’t replace him.”
Indeed, it wouldn’t be an easy job for the next Chelsea manager. But what does Lampard bring to the table that makes him a suitable candidate as the next Chelsea boss?
Relationship with the fans
Throughout the season, the Chelsea fan base has been split into those who support Sarri and those who are against the 60-year-old.
During a comeback win in a Premier League game against Cardiff City at the end of March, Sarri had to endure abuse from some 3,000 traveling fans chanting “We want Sarri out” and other choruses berating the tactician's 'Sarriball' approach.
Although the Europa League trophy has redeemed the relationship with the fans up to an extet, there is still a large section of fans who are eager to see Sarri step down from his role.
As a club legend, Lampard would surely receive a better reception from the fans.
Chelsea have had nine players turning managers before including Roberto Di Matteo and Tommy Docherty and having a club legend as the 10th player-turned-manager for Chelsea couldn't hurt. Even at Derby, Lampard worked his way for Derby fans to treat him as one of their own until he is now adored by Derby fans despite the loss in Championship playoff final.
Youth development
The main concern for Chelsea this summer is the potential transfer ban for the next two transfer windows. Appointing a manager who can further promote and operate with academy players would be a priority.
It also happens to be another avenue of criticism of Maurizio Sarri, who has been called out on his lack of desire to give young talents significant playing time.
Callum Hudson-Odoi had only featured in Chelsea starting line-up through pressure from the board and the fans after Bayern Munich’s multiple bids for the England international. Ruben Loftus-Cheek struggled to get on the pitch when not battling a back injury. Andreas Christensen would have spent most of his time on the sideline if it wasn’t for Antonio Rudiger’s injury. Ethan Ampadu has clearly been out of the picture, even for Europa League squad.
The failures of Sarri’s signings: Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and Gonzalo Higuain; also made his case worse.
On the contrary, at Derby, Lampard has been reliant on two Chelsea loanees: Mason Mount in midfield and Fikayo Tomori in defence. The latter went on to win Derby’s Player of the Year award for the 2018-19 season. Being a club legend, Lampard is also obviously more familiar with Chelsea youngsters compared to Sarri who has just been at Chelsea for less than 11 months.
Jody Morris, Lampard’s assistant at Derby and also a Chelsea veteran, had been involved at Chelsea academy set-up since 2014 before joining Lampard at Derby in May 2018. Few people, if any, know the club’s young talents and workings of Chelsea's academy set-up at Cobham better than Morris.
During his years at the helm of Chelsea U-18s, Morris led the team to win seven trophies including their fourth and fifth successive FA Youth Cups.
Morris has also criticised some of Chelsea previous managers for not paying attention to the academy. “I don’t think there’s an academy in this country that’s better [than Chelsea],” he said. “But it doesn’t look like that on paper because of the amount of players who are not playing in the first team.
“The players are good enough, most definitely, but the managers are not, for one, aware of them.”
Ability to adapt
It is well-known that Sarri is unwilling to adapt his football philosophy or simply tweak his tactics mid-game.
In February, when asked about tweaking his tactical approach, Sarri said: “I don’t think I can change at the moment. I could change my mind in the future, I don’t know. I changed in the past. But, at the moment, no. If I can change the mentality of these players they are really very suitable for my football.
“I want to remain the same man. If I am a dreamer, I am a dreamer. If I have fun with my football, I want to play my football. If I believe that the organisation in a team is everything, I cannot change my mind.”
Sarri has already had his football philosophy set in stone. But Lampard, as a young manager who has just started his managerial career, could potentially be more open to change.
At Derby, Lampard tended to play either 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 with the aim of trying to dominate possession. However, Derby’s win over Leeds in the second leg of the Championship playoff semi-final gave a good example of Lampard’s ability to adapt.
Three defeats to Leeds in Championship season and the first leg of the tie, Lampard amended his approach to achieve success. In that game, Derby set aside their dominant possession football and instead, sitting deeper and looking to hit Leeds on the counter-attack with direct passes forward.
Derby averaged just 272 attempted passes per 90 minutes in this match -- a significantly lower number than their usual average of 400.6 in Championship this season. These changes of approach helped Derby to grab a 4-2 victory over Leeds.
