Angry Napoli fans have torn down a Maurizio Sarri’s plaque in his hometown in Naples after the Italian coach joined bitter rivals Juventus.

The former Chelsea manager signed a three-year deal with the Old Lady after a protracted negotiation with the London club over release compensation.

Neapolitan fans consider Juventus their great nemesis and reacted in a similarly angry manner when Gonzalo Higuain traded Campania for Turin in 2016.

In three years at Stadio San Paolo, Sarri turned around the initially sceptic fanbase and left for Chelsea as a popular figure, report The Sun.

It led to a plaque being installed on Via Silio Italico inside the Bagnoli district of the city that he was born in 60 years ago.

“Here was born Commander Sarri,” read the inscription. “The Neapolitan people thank the creator of beauty.”

But leaving London for Napoli’s title rivals Juventus was deemed a step too far – although not everyone was happy with the plaque’s removal.

It was put up in May 2018 by a pair of Napoli fans who created the La Mossa del Comandante (The Commander’s Move) supporters network.

After Sarri’s move to Juventus was confirmed, another group who go by the name of Laboratorio Politico Iskra posted a photo of it torn down.

However, it has split Napoli fans with some claiming it was the wrong thing to do.

One Facebook user, Fabia, decried it as a “disrespectful and childish gesture” with the debate raging on.

In justifying their act, the left-wing group blamed football’s obsession with money for Sarri’s decision.

They wrote: “Our hearts are crying to read the bitterness of so many people, like us, who believed and had placed their trust in someone to continue to believe in football. A trust that is regularly broken by market laws.

“How many more will we become attached to and then be disappointed by their choices?”