Former Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri is reported to be close to returning to management with his ex-club Napoli and he wants to bring Chelsea's Jorginho with him according to the midfielder's agent Joao Santos.
Sarri had one season in charge at Stamford Bridge between 2018 and 2019, replacing fellow Italian Antonio Conte at the club.
His spell at the Blues saw him lead the club to a third-place finish behind runaway leaders Manchester City and Liverpool. In his final game in charge, the Italian defeated Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League final to win the first major trophy of his career.
Sarri went onto manage Juventus for one season, winning Serie A but his failure in the Champions League saw the Italian giants part company with him. Since then Sarri has been out of work and a return to Napoli is now being widely reported in Italy.
“The rapport between De Laurentiis and Sarri was absolutely frosty and the President was not happy if someone talked about the coach in front of him,” said Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli director Valter De Maggio.
“The two have now spoken, there has been a sort of thawing of the relationship between them. De Laurentiis also has two other options, which are Ivan Juric and Vincenzo Italiano.”
Any return to Napoli for Sarri will lead to the club looking to Chelsea for midfield reinforcements. Sarri worked with Jorginho during his first spell in charge in Naples and took the midfielder with him to Stamford Bridge in 2018.
Jorginho was a key player for the Italian at Chelsea and after falling down the pecking order during Frank Lampard's tenure the 29-year-old has returned to the team on a regular basis under new manager Thomas Tuchel, missing just one league match since the German took the reigns.
Jorginho's agent confirmed that there would be interest in a return to Napoli if Sarri were to take over from current boss Gennaro Gattuso:
“Sarri at Napoli with Jorginho is a wonderful idea. The player has two-and-a-half years left on his contract with Chelsea and an important salary," Santos said.
“It’s possible on a football level, certainly. We’d have to see what De Laurentiis thinks. Naples is a city that Jorginho loves very much, which marked an important part of his career.
“Sarri is also an important coach for him, at which he expressed himself at the highest level.”
