Sarri to Juventus, Conte to Inter and the conflicted loyalties of Serie A next season Both men will have to shed emotional ties to former clubs in order to succeed in new roles after crossing dividing lines of Italian football

When Antonio Conte announced that he was leaving Juventus in the summer of 2014, he left with a heartfelt message for fans of the club for which he had made over 400 appearances in his playing days.

“An enormous thank you for what you have given to me as a player and as a coach,” he said. “I have always been close to you. I want to say that the journey taken in recent years has been historic. Winning is difficult. It comes with a lot of effort, especially in a club like Juventus where there is the obligation of victory, but I showed I’m a winner.”

Having won three consecutive league titles – Juve’s first since the Calciopoli scandal – few could deny that Conte had shown a ruthless hunger for success and an instinctive understanding of what it meant to manage the Bianconeri.

Conte’s sudden departure shook Italian football, coming as it did two days into pre-season training. There remains an air of mystery over his exit, with prevailing wisdom suggesting that he left after disagreements over transfer policy. At the end of the previous season, when asked about whether Juve could make an impact in Europe the following campaign, Conte famously said: “You cannot go to eat at a €100 restaurant with just €10 in your pocket, can you?” Some felt the mooted sale of Arturo Vidal to Manchester United was the final straw, others the failure to buy Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina, while others still suspected that, behind the scenes, professional relationships had frayed to the point of being irreparable.

One month before Conte’s departure from Juve, a relatively little-known lower-league veteran named Maurizio Sarri arrived at Napoli from Empoli. Having spent his career to that point wreathed in an acrid halo of cigarette smoke on the touchlines of Serie D, Serie C and Serie B – Sarri even replaced Conte at second-division Arezzo, only for Conte to be reappointed a few months later – he arrived at a club which had finished fifth the previous season. Neapolitan by birth (though Tuscan by upbringing), Sarri established a fierce rapport with the fans as the club became locked in a three-season title fight with Juventus and, in a cruel finale, finished as runners-up on a record 91 points in 2017-18. He may not have won titles in Naples, but it was there that ‘Sarrismo’ as we know it was popularised.

Conflicted loyalties

Having crossed paths once in their coaching careers already, Sarri and Conte will find their fates intertwined once again next season. Having inherited the Chelsea job from Conte and added a Europa League triumph to the league title and FA Cup won by his predecessor, Sarri has just been announced as Massimiliano Allegri’s successor at Juventus and will now look to seal a ninth consecutive Scudetto for the club. Among those hoping to stop him will be Conte, who was announced as the new Inter Milan manager at the end of May. As well as competing with each other, both men will have to contend with conflicted loyalties – or at least the perception of conflicted loyalties – given their past affiliations.

Sarri, certainly, may face some uncomfortable questions about his close ties to Naples when he faces the press for the first time as Juve manager. After Chelsea swept aside Arsenal in the Europa League final in Baku, Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis was quick to congratulate him on “a stunning performance” while Sarri said: “I am pleased that Napoli congratulated me, I had no doubt it would happen. The Neapolitans know how much love I have for them… I dedicate this firstly to the Napoli fans, because this is the satisfaction I was unable to give them last year.”

It seems unlikely that De Laurentiis will congratulate Sarri for any successes he may have with Juventus, while Sarri best not dedicate any more silverware to Napoli fans unless he wants to be besieged inside the Allianz Stadium by an angry mob wielding torches and pitchforks. Sarri already needs to go on a concerted charm offensive in Turin given that fans have dug out his comment from 2015 that for Napoli to get more penalties they would “have to wear striped shirts”. Then there is the small matter of a video which appears to show him giving the middle finger to a crowd of hostile Juve supporters.

Uncontroversial, he is not.

Throwback to when Sarri showed middle finger to Juventus fans as Napoli team bus arrived at the Allianz Stadium. #WelcomeSarri pic.twitter.com/U5VlJYtB3o — Akbår Zulfikår (@zulfikar11_) June 16, 2019

Conte, meanwhile, will be crossing the divide of the Derby d’Italia. Juve and Inter are regional rivals given that they are separated by barely 100 miles of the Italian north-west and national – even international – rivals on account of their transcendent popular appeal. Back when he was still a tigerish central midfielder, Conte was the face of a Juve side under Marcelo Lippi which so often frustrated Inter and other would-be title challengers. The Nerazzurri were twice runners-up to Juventus teams marshalled by Conte, while fans have not forgotten the emotive antagonism of Serie A’s nineties and noughties heyday.

‘A betrayal’

While many fans are still trying to get their heads around the idea of Sarri and Conte in antithetical new roles, the rumbling backlash is already underway. “The Napoli fans still have him in their hearts, it’s normal that they could get angry,” Jorginho said in a press conference ahead of Italy’s latest Euro 2020 qualifiers. “They could treat it as a betrayal. They’re like that.” Jorginho could be forgiven for taking Sarri’s move personally given that his managerial mentor took him from Napoli to Chelsea only to leave him stranded in London, though if early rumours are to be believed he could follow in Sarri’s wake once more.

Incumbent Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti has shown a degree of sympathy for Sarri, which seems shrewd given that he managed Juventus himself for a couple of seasons at the turn of the millennium. “The bond between Sarri and Neapolitans was very strong, just as his adherence to the project and to the Neapolitan character was strong,” Ancelotti told Corriere dello Sport. “It’s understandable that some will find this painful, but Sarri is a professional and at times this profession brings you to make choices that can be disorienting.”

Given that Ancelotti has been contending with Sarri’s legacy ever since he arrived at the Stadio San Paolo, he may feel that his predecessor has done him a favour. Just as they did when Gonzalo Higuain left Naples for Turin under Sarri’s watch in 2016, Napoli fans have set about demolishing reminders of their former hero. In the Bagnoli quarter of Naples, a commemorative plaque hailing Sarri as the ‘Comandante’ has been torn down. Likewise, in another act of iconoclasm waiting to happen, a Juventus fan’s petition calling for the removal of Conte’s star from the club’s walk of fame has reached almost 15,000 signatures.

“Going to Inter means joining a club who have tried, luckily without succeeding, through several more or less clear channels, to destroy us and throw dirt on the history of which Conte was undoubtedly the protagonist,” reads the petition. “Going to Inter isn’t a professional choice… [it] will mean trampling on one’s dignity first.” While this may seem a little theatrical, it says a lot about the strength of feeling towards those who cross the dividing lines of Italian football. Conte’s appointment, like Sarri’s, has reopened old wounds: take Calciopoli, the refereeing scandal which, among other things, saw Inter awarded the 2005-06 league title at Juve’s expense. A source of mutual rancour, it has been the focus of allegation and counter-allegation between the two clubs and their fanbases ever since.

‘Grudging respect’

While Sarri and Conte will get an acrimonious reception in some quarters, not everyone is ready to burn them in effigy. Speaking to fans of Juve, Inter and Napoli, it becomes apparent that the most extreme reactions are, as ever, on the fringes. Rav Gopal, editor of Juvefc.com, is circumspect about Conte’s reputation at Juventus. “I feel there’s [been] a mixed response,” he tells i. “Some have felt a degree of ambivalence towards Conte ever since he left in 2014… for those fans, his legacy was tarnished by that somewhat rash decision [to leave] which was perceived as a sort of petulant outburst, railing against the transfer policies of the management. Since then, they’ve cared less and less about his past contributions at the club, holding that departure against him, meaning his appointment at Inter wasn’t a real surprise.”

While going from something close to the living embodiment of Juve’s identity to Inter manager will obviously hurt his former supporters, Conte will remain an indelible part of the club’s history even if his star on the walk of fame goes the way of the ‘Comandante’ plaque. “I think it’s hard to detract from what he achieved as a player and even more so as a manager between 2011 and 2014,” Gopal says. “He laid the foundations for Juve’s resurgence. Without him, we wouldn’t be where we are today, and there’s a sort of grudging respect that’s due. That said, the vast majority won’t forgive a decision like that and he will get plenty of abuse when he returns to Turin as Inter coach.”

The response to Conte’s arrival has been similarly mixed among Inter fans according to Nima Tavallaey, founder and chief news editor of SiempreInter.com. “Conte’s appointment has been met largely positively by fans,” he says. “He is a winner, a strong character who doesn’t accept any nonsense from any of the players and that is something Inter fans have been screaming for since [Jose] Mourinho left.”

A section of the Nerazzurri have found his appointment “nothing short of reprehensible”, however, thanks to his symbolic association with the all-conquering Juventus of the nineties. The shadow of Juve’s dark deeds stretches back a long way in the minds of Inter fans. So too does the memory of an infamous foul on Ronaldo – the original – in the midst of the 1997-98 season which saw Inter denied a penalty only for Juve to be awarded one moments later, which for Inter fans was the ultimate proof that Conte’s Juve benefited from favouritism. It was a sequence of events so contentious it led to the suspension of the Italian parliament after two deputies lunged at each other during a televised debate. Conte would be naive to think Inter fans have forgiven or forgotten, even if they are willing to put old grievances aside in the pursuit of glory.

As for Sarri, Juve fans seem less hostile than they are bemused. “Most Juventini are more disappointed than angered by the choice as it feels distinctly like a sideways step,” says Gopal. “The justification for getting rid of Allegri was based on the need for a change to inspire the players and improve the ‘brand’ of football on the pitch. While Sarri may bring a more attacking approach, he also brings with him some ugly reminders of his last stint in Italy: homophobic remarks, sexist insults and, perhaps the most difficult to forget, giving supporters the middle finger shortly before Napoli played Juventus in Turin.

“In my 20-odd years as a Juventino, the type of coach the club appoints is very much a reflection of the club itself. There’s a certain standard in terms of how the coach acts, how he carries himself – there’s Lo Stile Juve, the Juventus style, and that’s of importance to the supporters, the management and, of course, the Agnelli family who still own the club and have a direct hand in the day-to-day running. For them to appoint a manager like Sarri who was a little rough around the edges during his stint with Napoli seems like an odd choice.”

Napoli fans, for their part, are less forgiving. “There’s no doubt Sarri will be seen as a villain for most Napoli fans,” says Ken Cioffredi, editor of the Far From Vesuvius blog. “He was a beacon for us, a symbol against everything we see Juventus as… I definitely think this damages his legacy.”

Shedding the past

Though it’s too early to say who will have more success with their new club, both Sarri and Conte will need to do everything in their power to avoid being defined by the past. Inter and Juve have not won 53 titles between them because of their easygoing ethos, but fans may be even less forgiving than usual if either man fails to hit the ground running or makes an obvious misstep. Likewise, both Sarri and Conte may find that their new surroundings take some getting used to.

Speaking about Juve’s dominance of Italian football back when he was Napoli manager, Sarri said: “The risk is that we’ll lose many fans, because they cheer on teams that will never win and they know that too well. If we impoverish the whole system, then the rich will be impoverished too.” Right or wrong, that sort of thinking will not go down well at Juventus. Sarri is now tasked with extending their dominance and that is a philosophical burden he will have to bear.

Philosophies aside, if he and Conte are looking for an easy crowd pleaser then results against their former clubs will do. In Naples and Turin, they will face some of the biggest tests of their careers so far. “I don’t think the rivalry [between Napoli and Juventus] is ever less than heated,” says Cioffredi. “But just like two seasons ago with Higuain, Sarri’s first match back at San Paolo will be a huge deal.”