6 Serie A players Maurizio Sarri could sign at Chelsea
A fifth place finish in the league condemned Chelsea to a season without Champions League football. It also brought to Stamford Bridge another summer of turmoil and uncertainty because if there is one thing that owner Roman Abramovich lacks its patience. Antonio Conte seems destined to be sacked despite winning the FA Cup last season and the Premier League the season before that.
Odds on favourite to replace him is Maurizio Sarri. Only a small matter of transfer fees remains to be negotiated between Napoli and Chelsea. Sarri has two years left on his contract with Napoli but the club have already signed a replacement in the form of Carlo Ancelloti. Despite that, Napoli are not willing to let go off him without a transfer fee even if that means that they have to continue paying his wages for the next year without having a job for him.
Its a ridiculous situation really. Sarri has a buyout clause of about 8 million euros. Chelsea are not willing to pay anywhere close to that as they will also have to pay Conte about 9 million euros for terminating his contract. The saga has stretched for the better part of the summer already but I expect a deal to be finally done in the region of 4.5 million euros as transfer fees.
Chelsea's poor performance last season will also likely lead to the sacking of a few players. Cesc Fabregas, Pedro, David Luiz and Gary Cahill are all on the other side of thirty and performed well below par last season. Willian's performance was not as bad but he will also be thirty by the time the season starts. Club record signing Alvaro Morata started off well but had a torrid 2018. Other new signings of last season Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayako, Ross Barkley and Emerson also did not live up to expectations. Which means that a majority of these players will be on their way out in the summer.
Should Maurizio Sarri move to Chelsea, he will look to overhaul his squad with some players from the Serie A who he is familiar with. A lot of names have been thrown up in the air. but these 5 are the most likely players to move from the Italian league to Chelsea should Sarri take over the reins.
#6 Elseid Hysaj
Chelsea are short of wing back options especially on the right with Victor Moses and Davide Zappacosta both under performing. On the other hand Elseid Hysaj was in good form last season. He is defensively astute, strong going forward and can send out deadly crosses from the wings.
Add to that the fact that he can play on the left wing as well which would make him a good utility player to have in the squad. The Albanian has been known to move with Sarri having previously played under the man at both Empoli and Napoli. Should Sarri persist with a back 5 then Hysaj would make for a sensible buy. It would also him to move Moses to a winger position which is a more natural one for the Nigerian attacker.