Former Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri has now signed as the new Lazio coach. Sarri was in charge of Cristiano Ronaldo during his time at Juventus. He won the Serie A with Juventus in the 2019-20 season.
Sarri compared Ronaldo to a multinational brand and revealed it is difficult to manage Ronaldo sometimes.
Sarri said during an interview with SportItalia, via Marca: “Cristiano Ronaldo is a multinational brand with personal interests that must coincide with the interests of the team,”
“It is a difficult situation to manage from all points of view. I consider myself a better coach than a manager.”
“There are also many positive aspects, because Ronaldo brings the numbers at the end of the year. When someone reaches these levels it is clear that he represents something beyond the team, beyond normality.”
“In recent years I have heard a lot about individual players and little about teams. And the value of the team never corresponds to the sum of the value of the individual.”
Sarri also commented on whether Cristiano should stay at Juventus: “That depends on the club’s needs. In my opinion, it’s better to give up one player, than to give up five or six.”
“We won a Scudetto without celebrating it, we each went to dinner on our own. The right year to go to Juve would be this one, after a fourth-place finish that instead was celebrated.”
Sarri was also asked about the rumours surrounding his former club Napoli. He said: “I didn’t take it into consideration because I wasn’t sure about whether there was any point.”
“I answered the same thing to all the clubs that were asking for me: that I was available if they wanted to talk about it again in July.”
