Serie A champions Juventus appointed Maurizio Sarri as their new coach on Sunday, hoping that his ambitious possession-based game would extend their dominance of Italian soccer and bring them European silverware.

British media reported Juventus agreed a compensation fee with Chelsea in excess of five million pounds (6.3 million U.S. dollars) for Sarri, who joins the Italian giants on a three-year contract.

The 60-year-old Italian coach was at Chelsea for just one season, where he won the Europa League – the first major trophy of his career – and led them to a third-placed finish in the Premier League.

On paper it was a commendable feat, but it was a rocky campaign for the former Napoli boss whose team never seemed to fully adapt to his so-called "Sarri-ball" system.

"In talks we had following the Europa League final, Maurizio made it clear how strongly he desired to return to his native country, explaining that his reasons for wanting to return to work in Italy were significant," Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia said in a statement.

"He also believed it important to be nearer his family, and for the well-being of his elderly parents he felt he needed to live closer to them at this point."

The chain-smoking Sarri replaced the phlegmatic Massimiliano Allegri who won five successive Serie A titles in as many seasons in charge – extending Juve's run to eight in a row – plus the Coppa Italia four times. He also led them to two Champions League finals.

The move is likely to infuriate supporters at Napoli, where Sarri spent three seasons and turned them into the team most likely to threaten Juve's dominance.

Napoli finished as runners-up twice and third place once under Sarri's leadership and achieved a club record 91 points in the 2017-18 when they came agonizingly close to snatching the title — even beating Juve 1-0 in Turin towards the end of the season.

A former bank employee, Sarri never played soccer professionally and made his Serie A coaching debut at the age of 55 with Empoli after winning promotion with them in 2014.

Known as "Mr. 33", because he reputedly thought up 33 different plans for set pieces, Sarri quickly innovated at Napoli by using a drone to film training sessions from above.

Sarri began coaching amateur teams back in the 1990s, managing to combine his hobby with a banking career that took him to the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

He coached 16 different sides in the lower division of the Italian league before finally reaching Serie A with Empoli.