On this day five years ago, Napoli appointed Maurizio Sarri as their coach on an initial one-year contract.
Despite being 56 at the time of his move to Napoli, Sarri had only one season of Serie A experience under his belt.
However, he made a positive impression as he guided Empoli to a 15th-placed finish in their first season since winning promotion from Serie B, which the coach also masterminded.
On this day five years ago, Napoli appointed Maurizio Sarri as their coach on an initial one-year contract.
Despite being 56 at the time of his move to Napoli, Sarri had only one season of Serie A experience under his belt.
However, he made a positive impression as he guided Empoli to a 15th-placed finish in their first season since winning promotion from Serie B, which the coach also masterminded.
Aware he had a tough act to follow in succeeding Rafa Benitez, President Aurelio De Laurentiis was only prepared to offer Sarri a rolling one-year deal at first.
By the end of his debut campaign, that agreement had been extended until 2020, with Sarri’s Napoli crowned winter champions midway through.
Although the Partenopei ended up finishing second, their attractive, attacking style caught the eye and Gonzalo Higuain matched the record for most goals scored in a single Serie A season (36).
He won the Enzo Bearzot Award for Italian coach of the year in 2017 and recorded another runners-up finish the following year, having taken Juventus all the way for their seventh Scudetto.
Napoli also became the first team to pick up more than 90 points without winning the title (91) in Sarri’s third season.
Averaging better than two points a game, the southerners won 98 of their 148 competitive matches under the tactician, scoring 318 goals.
Sarri left for Chelsea in the summer of 2018 and may now be managing Napoli’s arch-rivals Juventus, but 11 June 2015 will go down as a momentous day in the club’s recent history.