Juventus Slips Amid Reports Club to Pay Fee for Chelsea’s Sarri

(Bloomberg) -- Juventus Football Club S.p.A. shares edged lower on Friday amid reports the soccer team will pay compensation to English Premier League side Chelsea to seal a transfer of head coach Maurizio Sarri to his native Italy.

An agreement in excess of 5 million pounds ($6.3 million) has been reached, according to the BBC, while the Times of London said the amount could rise to 8 million pounds. Juventus shares declined as much as 3.8% versus a 0.4% decline for Italy’s FTSE MIB benchmark.

Sarri’s maiden season in the U.K. capital was marred by media speculation that he’d be dismissed as results fell short of expectations. Such an eventuality would have allowed a new club to gain the former foreign-exchange trader’s services for free.

Chelsea’s results improved during the latter months of the season as the club finished third in the Premier League to secure a spot in the UEFA Champions League for next season and also won Europe’s second-tier knockout competition, the UEFA Europa League.

Sarri previously worked for Banca Toscana, now a unit of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, before quitting finance to pursue a career in soccer in 2001, according to a BBC profile.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Easton in London at jeaston7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis

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