Sarri to Chelsea with Zola?

By Football Italia staff

Chelsea hope to appoint Maurizio Sarri on Monday with Gianfranco Zola as director of sport, according to multiple reports.

In today’s edition of the Corriere dello Sport, Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis insisted he had not received any calls from Chelsea, but would be “reasonable” if they did ask to terminate his contract.

Although the Coach was fired to make way for Carlo Ancelotti, he remains under contract until it is terminated by mutual consent.

According to Italian paper Il Mattino, plus SunSport and the Daily Express in England, Monday will be decisive for Sarri to Stamford Bridge.

They all report the same story, which is that Zola will return to Chelsea as director of sport, acting as link between Sarri and the club hierarchy.

Crucially, he’ll be in charge of transfer strategy, because Sarri has always said he doesn’t want to be involved in that side of the game.

The coaching staff would be fleshed out with Marco Ianni, Davide Losi, Massimo Nenci and Davide Ranzato.

His assistant manager would be Giovanni Martusciello, who already worked with Sarri at Empoli and is currently at Inter under Luciano Spalletti.

Fitness coach Paolo Bertelli and goalkeeper’s coach Gianluca Spinelli could remain from the Antonio Conte era.

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