Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has defended his style of play after his former club's president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, took yet another swipe at the Italian following his defection to the Premier League earlier this summer.
Sarri received widespread praise for his attacking brand of football in Naples, but during his three years with the club he failed to win a trophy - even while he did guide them to consecutive record point hauls after twice finishing runners-up to Juventus.
With Chelsea only securing Sarri's signature after a long and painstaking ordeal, De Laurentiis has since held a grudge and has publicly taken aim at the 59-year-old on a number of occasions.
The latest of which saw the Napoli president bemoan that investment into Sarri's squad never reaped the desired levels of success, but the Chelsea manager defended his ground when his former employer's comments were put before him.
“I don’t know but maybe he is talking about me because he is missing me," he said, via the Guardian.
Sarri hasn't won trophies yet because of his managerial path. If he was a pro footballer and started at clubs like Barca, PSG, Bayern, Juventus etc you think he would be trophyless? Only fools would think so
— SarriBall (@SarriBalls) August 25, 2018
“We didn’t win in Naples but we had the record number of points for the club. We qualified three times for the Champions League and it was unusual for Napoli.
"So I think we did very well. Nobody won in Italy except Juventus in the last seven years."
And asked whether he missed De Laurentiis, Sarri added: “At the moment, no. But I am used [to him].”
The Blues boss also took the time to shed light on the future of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who will only find out on matchday if he is to be included among the substitutes for the clash against Newcastle - with Sarri ruling out another loan move for the England international.
“Loftus-Cheek will remain with us. We can speak again about his situation but I think only in December. I am not able to promise anything to anybody. It’s up to him. I usually look at the training and then I decide. So it’s up to him only," Sarri said.
“Here the problem is the bench because, in Italy, the players’ list for the match is 23; here only 18. It’s not so easy in this period because we play only once a week.
"But I told the team that this month they have to be patient. In the future, starting from September, I think we play three times three games a week, so there will be space for everybody.”