After so many weeks of wrangling and negotiations, Chelsea have finally managed to extract Maurizio Sarri from his ironclad Napoli contract and can begin looking forward to the exhilarating football he promises to bring to Stamford Bridge. While Antonio Conte was slumping to a disappointing fifth-place finish, Sarri was duking it out with Juventus for the Scudetto - ultimately falling just four points short.
If there was just one single moment last season that summed up why Chelsea decided, and perhaps needed, to ditch Conte - and have been so drawn to Sarri - it was their performance against Manchester City in March. Forget about the boardroom bust-ups and transfer arguments, the decision to play without a recognised striker and show so little intent - they had zero shots on target and just 28% possession - made it painfully obvious that the Italian's penchant for pragmatism had gone too far.
As is regularly the way, the style of the departing manager often dictates the profile of his successor, and Chelsea have loosely gone from one extreme to the other. Conte was happy to play on the back foot, especially in big games, and played direct, counter-punching football. Sarri looks to control the ball and dominate possession; death by a thousand cuts rather than one fatal blow.
WHAT IS SARRI'S FOOTBALL STYLE?
Sarri's closest Premier League comparison is Pep Guardiola, who showered the Italian with praise when Manchester City took on Napoli in the Champions League last season. Like the Catalan, Sarri plays with a high line, presses aggressively as soon as possession is lost, dominates the ball and looks to play attacking, adventurous, progressive pass-and-move football. When it comes off, the football played looks more like a video game than real life.
Napoli's combination of short, quick passes and forward thrust saw rise to the term 'Sarri-ball' to describe the way they play; imagine tiki-taka but with an emphasis on moving the ball forward rather than side-to-side. It's not possession for the sake of possession, but with constant intent, though Napoli's overwhelming territorial dominance - only three teams across Europe averaged more possession last season - inevitably gives teams fewer chances to score.
'If he comes to England, it would be a pleasure. For somebody like me, who loves watching games at home on the sofa, Napoli are spectacular and his brand of football is a joy to watch. Often a coach is judged on wins, but you've also got to look at the shape as well as the substance - Sarri had Empoli and Napoli playing great football, and he did a fantastic job.' - Guardiola on Sarri
Their play in the final third is also distinctive, often seeming to play one more pass where other sides would shoot, thus creating better, more clear-cut chances to score - their Expected Goals (a metric that ranks the quality of shots) is through the roof. 'Guardiola and Sarri are two sons of the same idea,' says legendary Italian manager Arrigo Sacchi. 'Football is music for them; a form of art.'
That attitude marks a massive shift from Conte. The axed manager's training sessions were overly long and there was a heavy focus on team shape and defensive positioning. Sarri's sessions are much shorter, but more intensive and never without the ball. One manager wanted his side to suffer, the other wants them to express themselves. Of course, playing such an adventurous and demanding style requires very particular players to be successful...
ARE CHELSEA'S PLAYERS A GOOD FIT?
Unsurprisingly, there were reports that Sarri would raid Napoli for as many as four of his old players to help transition towards Sarri-ball, and an often testing first season for Guardiola hints at the teething problems Chelsea may encounter. Nevertheless, Sarri finished second in his first season at Naples having brought only two players with him from Empoli, while many of the players that were fixtures in his side last year were already at the club under Rafa Benitez four seasons ago.
While Guardiola needed to spend big, you sense that Sarri - by his own admission - is far happier to coach those players already at his disposal. 'The transfer market is the refuge of the weak,' he once said. 'I am a coach. Give me a group of players and I will coach them.' Nevertheless, some of the current Chelsea squad feel patently unsuited to his style of play.
Napoli's first-choice XI: Players in caps were already at the club before Sarri, the other three signed in his very first transfer window
At the back, Sarri quickly brought in a goalkeeper adept at using his feet in Pepe Reina - last season, just as in his first, he actually averaged more passes per game (27) than frontman Dries Mertens. There will be slight reservations over how easily Thibaut Courtois could assume the same role, while the high line Sarri employs will require quick, aggressive defenders. Skipper Gary Cahill could be a victim of the new manager's tactics, but the rest of Chelsea's centre-backs fit the required mould.
Midfield presents the biggest problem. At Napoli, Sarri had a destroyer in Allan, a metronome in Jorginho and a box-to-box goal threat in Marek Hamsik. That three-man midfield was constantly busy and constantly on the move, but the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Danny Drinkwater play at a far slower pace and lack the mobility that Sarri-ball requires. It would be very surprising if Chelsea did not bring in a new midfielder and Jorginho looks set to follow his old boss to Stamford Bridge.
Up front, Napoli's play was typified by movement, runners from deep and interchanging attackers. It could hardly be further from the aerial bombardment that started to consume Chelsea's play once static target man Olivier Giroud was handed a starting role. The likelihood of the Frenchman starting come August is slim to none.
In Naples, Sarri had no hesitation in immediately criticising star man Gonzalo Higuain for laziness, but it got a response. Under Sarri, the Argentine transformed into a fitter, more mobile frontman and enjoyed the most prolific campaign of his career. When he left, Belgian winger Mertens was converted from a winger into a lethal centre-forward, and that could be a trick Sarri considers repeating again with Mertens' compatriot Eden Hazard.
CONTROVERSY
Any discussion of Sarri and what he will bring to the Premier League cannot be complete without touching on some of the hugely controversial comments he has made in the past. The chain-smoking Italian, who regularly lights up in the dugout, was handed a two-game ban in the 2015-16 season and fined €20,000 for aiming homophobic slurs at then Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini.
Mancini was livid afterwards, telling Rai TV: 'People like him do not belong in football. He used racist words. I stood up to ask about the five minutes being added on and Sarri shouted 'p**f' and 'f****t' at me. I would be proud to be that if he is what's considered a man. People like him should not be in football.'
Sarri again courted controversy in March when he demeaned a female journalist. Napoli had drawn against Inter Milan, while Juventus had beaten Udinese, and Sarri was asked by Titti Improta if the day's events had damaged his side's title chances. He smiled and replied: 'You're a woman, you're beautiful, and I won't tell you to f*** off for those two reasons.' He was forced to apologise afterwards, though the local journalists' union still criticised his 'contempt for the press and women'. As beautiful as Sarri's football is, there is an ugly side too.
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