Chelsea have been offered an explanation as to what Matthijs de Ligt was expecting from one of the club's former managers as the Dutch defender completes a move to Bayern Munich.
De Ligt was being pursued as a key centre-back target by Thomas Tuchel and Todd Boehly this summer but the 22-year-old eventually settled for a move to Germany. Impacted by a desire to continue his development outside of Italy, the former Ajax star joined Bayern Munich for £56m this summer, adding to Tuchel's frustration as Chelsea labour over defensive acquisitions.
The German manager has already acquired Kalidou Koulibaly who is proving to be an immediate leader in the squad, but his annoyance at not being able to bring in more defensive targets has been given public airing this summer.
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Given the length of the Jules Kounde transfer saga, which spanned more than 12-months, it feels like a long time since Chelsea's original interest in De Ligt surfaced. The Blues were prepared to match the bid of Bayern despite his original hefty price tag, but couldn't sway his mind.
He has now admitted that his original move to Juventus was inspired by former Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri. Speaking to ESPN after his latest change of club, De Ligt said: "I came to Juventus with the idea of playing more attacking football, because Sarri was the coach and he had a really good name in the world of football, played amazing football with Napoli and Chelsea. I was expecting more of the Ajax style there, but unfortunately after one year he was immediately (sacked).”
Chelsea had a good year on paper under Sarri, recovering from a shock fifth placed finish under Antonio Conte the season before to finish third in the league and winning the Europa League in the process. Sarri was never a popular figure with Blues fans though and split with the club after just one term in charge, leaving to Italy.
His methodical style of football struggled to catch on with Chelsea who had a squad of ageing players used to rigid systems under Conte and Jose Mourinho, but De Ligt spotted his desires in Italy and was immediately attracted to the current Lazio manager's style.
Under Sarri De Ligt was able to win the league title in his first season, something that the Old Lady hasn't done since and although the Italian's reputation was perhaps unfairly damaged by his sole season in England, Bayern's new defender has kept him in high esteem.
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