Juventus want Guardiola or Pochettino, not Maurizio Sarri, says Italian expert
Juventus want either Pep Guardiola or Mauricio Pochettino as their new head coach, and only see Maurizio Sarri as a fall-back option, according to Italian football expert Adam Digby.
Massimiliano Allegri left the Turin side earlier this month after winning five successive Serie A titles, and Sky in Italy understand Chelsea boss Sarri is their first choice to replace his fellow Italian
However, when asked on Sky Sports Newswhether he thinks Sarri will join Juve this summer, Digby said: “I really don’t. Juve see him almost like a fall-back.
“They’re looking at Pep Guardiola and we know they’re looking at Mauricio Pochettino. They’re still trying to target one of those two, but keeping Maurizio Sarri as a fall-back option.
“I think that’s why the issue of Sarri’s compensation and getting out of his contract at Chelsea is taking so long; because Juve are not stood there saying, ‘OK, we’ll just pay it and have this manager’.
“They would like to have him in case, but they’re not going to pay money up front because they might get the man that they actually want.”
While Digby does not believe Sarri is top of Juve’s managerial wishlist, he believes the 60-year-old has done an impressive job during his first season at Chelsea.
“It’s fantastic. The one thing that you need to look at when you’re analysing that is the fact that, of all his seasons at Napoli, his first season was the worst. It only gets better from there,” said Digby.
“Every season with Napoli he set a new record points total. Seeing how long his methods take to get embedded into the team, I think you only see the gradual improvement as that goes along.
“I think we saw hints of that on Wednesday night in the Europa League final. It looks as though things have finally clicked for those players.
“Finishing third and winning the Europa League – that’s a fantastic season in anyone’s book. If he were to lose his job, I think that would be a really bad move from a Chelsea point of view.”
