In his first season, Sarri brought in Elseid Hysaj, Pepe Reina, and Allan. The trio would go on to be first-team stalwarts for the following campaign, as Napoli finished runners-up to Juventus. Sarri extended his stay at the club until 2020 on 27 May 2016. Two months later, Juventus would manage to sign Gonzalo Higuaín from Napoli for €90 million in the summer, who had managed to equal the record for most goals scored in a singular Serie A season, with 36. However, Sarri vetoed the possibility of spending the money on a like-for-like replacement, instead, spending sparingly on weaker positions in the side to improve on depth, while tinkering with his squad to compensate for the loss of Higuaín. This was achieved through the positional change of Dries Mertens, originally a wide-forward, who was played more centrally the following season. This worked to great effect, as the Belgian netted 28 goals as the club finished third in 2017, while Sarri was voted the league's coach of the year, and received the Enzo Bearzot Award.