Why Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio resignation is the right decision

Maurizio Sarri’s resignation at Lazio came from nowhere, but the signs of discontent were already there at the Serie A giants. And the decision is right from the Italian, who leaves a certain sum behind on his exit from the Biancocelesti.

Sarri’s relations with CEO Claudio Lotito or the club’s higher-ups were never great, to begin with. After AZ Alkmaar knocked Lazio out of the Conference League last season, Sarri had a reported ‘friction’ with former sporting director Igli Tare and it also involved screaming as tempers flared. Tare left in the summer but Sarri’s relationship with Lotito or his players never turned to be great.

After finishing second last season and taking the club back to Champions League football, Lazio lost Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to Al Hilal. Nicolo Rovella joined Lazio and so did Matteo Guendouzi and Daichi Kamada, with the Japanese arriving on a free transfer on a one-year deal. Taty Castellanos arrived as a back-up to Ciro Immobile, as Gustav Isaksen also joined. But Sarri was always vocal about the fact that he wasn’t happy with the players signed and he either wanted more or something different.

After a loss to Fiorentina, Sarri told the press: “Everyone signs who they want… It seems to me that in July, the club were clear about who were doing the transfers. If I ask you for a player who is plan A, and you make me choose between C and D… It’s not like I did the market.”

The disagreement is best reflected by the manner in which Hugo Lloris’ move was vetoed and Sarri also vetoed a move for Arsen Zakharyan. He wanted the club to move for Torino’s Samuele Ricci, but the move never came to fruition. And that defines everything about Sarri’s conflict with the club, as there was a difference in vision and thought process.

More recently, there has been talk about the Lazio players not having a great relationship with Sarri, who scolded them after a loss to Atalanta. He told them to ‘show some balls and tell Lotito’ if they thought he was the problem in the situation. It is vital to remember that Sarri never publicly mentioned the players that he never wanted, but the press have stated that he also wanted to reunite with Piotr Zielinski and wanted Domenico Berardi at the club.

Sarri is honest and a football purist. He has regularly spoken about his methods and how football is going in the wrong direction, when it comes to playing so many games. And the way in which he has left money behind shows that money doesn’t matter to him, vision does. And his vision at Lazio had stopped matching with that of the club. His honesty made sure that he stated that he would resign if he sees players not buying into his methods and now that it has happened, it does seem as if Lazio players had lost trust in his style.

And if that happened, it is a justified decision. There was no point in going further for either parties.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN