Jim Holden

Nowhere to hide for fairy-tale Sarri at Juventus

The story of Maurizio Sarri has been one of football’s modern fairy tales: the banker in Tuscany who was an amateur player and then a local-leagues coach in his spare time who rose through 30 years of hard labor to the very peak of the professional game.

Who could not thrill to this tale? Certainly, it captured the imagination of Pep Guardiola, who became a fervent admirer of the team Sarri created for three years at Napoli.

This isn’t how the sport is supposed to work. You must be an insider to reach the top. You can’t switch from the world’s oldest bank, the Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena, and climb the greasy pole of football by starting at a club in the eighth tier of the Italian pyramid. You can’t be a 60-a-day smoker in the world of high-tech fitness and super athleticism.

You can’t. But Sarri did. And even one rumbustious season at Chelsea has not dimmed his appeal. No, the 60-year-old has returned home to the prime job in Italy, and one of the crown jewels of Europe, as coach of Juventus.

For those who love his story, Sarri was the obvious choice; for an army of sceptics, this is the moment when the truth is discovered.