Massimo Maccarone

Spent three years under Sarri at Empoli, scoring 50 goals. Also played for Middlesbrough

I owe a lot to Sarri. When I signed for Empoli I was demotivated and he gave me back the desire to play football. The minute I started working with Maurizio I couldn’t wait for Sunday to arrive so that I could play. I can tell you that if you work with Sarri you feel as if you are on another planet. I can understand why Ross Barkley said that he had already learned so much from him.

Here is why: Maurizio knows how to give you confidence in your ability but he is also with you every step of the road, checking on how you are doing, noticing what you are doing right and wrong. The consistency and quality of the training sessions are remarkable and players respect him.

At Empoli my strike partner Francesco Tavano and I were 33 and 34, so Sarri found a tactical approach which enabled him to play in a way that didn’t fatigue us too much. It worked perfectly, and then players follow blindly.

Massimo Maccarone played under Sarri at Empoli. Photograph: Giorgio Benvenuti/EPA

Maurizio is always calm. But if you don’t follow his ideas on football and you start doing things your way, he gets annoyed. He holds everything inside during the game – two screams maybe – then on Tuesday when training starts again he spends half an hour explaining everything. He’s a teacher.

Empoli president Fabrizio Corsi

Appointed Sarri in 2012. Sarri took the team into Serie A in his second season and left for Napoli a year later

One day my sporting director Marcello Carli said to me: ‘Talk to this man, after two minutes you’ll be enthralled.’ That man was Maurizio. It was like magic right away – in one face-to-face meeting I saw the passion and energy.

Every day I follow the training sessions, and I’ll tell you one thing: Maurizio is capable of a magic trick Fabrizio Corsi

Every day I follow the training sessions and I’ll tell you one thing: Maurizio is capable of a magic trick. During every session he transmits his knowledge of football, his idea, to every player. He defends his choice to play offensive football regardless of the opponent.

At Empoli we have a small room behind the training pitch that became like his home. Even his time off was spent in that room studying opponents. And Sarri never gets tired despite the 60 cigarettes a day!

Fabrizio Corsi, president of Empoli. Photograph: Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

Even in the dressing rooms he smoked once in a while. The players laughed about it and in the end those who smoked got permission from Sarri to go into a storage room with him for a cigarette. I used to tell him: ‘Maurizio, for an athlete it’s not positive to smoke.’ He answered: ‘The important thing is that when you practise you give me 105%.’ He is a crazy genius.

When he joined Napoli I asked myself: ‘Will Maurizio be able to convince champions with his ideas?’ But I found out after sending a few text messages that after two days he had a very strong bond with Gonzalo Higuaín and I figured he would be a success.

Daniele Croce

Cremonese midfielder who played for Sarri at a number of clubs

Sarri is very superstitious. For instance he always parked in the same place. One time, a teammate arrived at training before Sarri and parked in his spot as a joke. The coach’s reaction was amazing: he hit the car until the player moved it. They laughed about it afterwards but that shows you what Sarri is like, how intense he is.

But players love Sarri because he makes working for him fun and his other big secret is getting into players’ minds. He expects you to work like you would during the match. He’s like a maniac; every detail is addressed carefully and those who don’t give their all in training are lost.

Sarri managed Napoli for three years. Photograph: Ciro de Luca/Reuters

Sarri makes his players believe they can achieve anything. At Empoli, whenever we had an important match against a bigger team, say Juventus or Milan, Sarri would give the players a speech that would last for an hour. He never said a word about playing defensively or limiting damage. Instead he would say: ‘I want a bunch of crazy players who play to win even on this pitch. You need to be even more ambitious and arrogant than you normally are.’

Ronaldo Vanin

Right-back for Sarri at Sorrento in 2011-12

Maurizio didn’t only want to win, he wanted more. He always told us we must command the game. One time we had a very difficult away game and produced the perfect performance. Afterwards we were on the bus, all pumped up. We waited five, 10, 20 minutes and there was no sign of Sarri. Half an hour later he arrived, apologised and said he was waiting for the DVD so he could watch it on the way back. He wanted to fix the mistakes and take notes. He was on the computer for the entire four-hour trip: incredible.

Sarri is a perfectionist but in a good way. If you miss a pass by 10cm, he looks for ways to improve you. His idea is that the team should memorise what they should do. During every session you go over the same script while having fun. His view is that training should never be too long, you must always have the ball at your feet and the defensive line must be perfect. Off the pitch he’s a marvellous person; on the pitch he’s very demanding.