Chelsea are confident of naming Maurizio Sarri as their next coach before July 9. Chelsea officials have been in negotiations with Napoli over Sarri’s release. The Italian has one year remaining in his contract and has a £9 million release clause with the Partenopei.
After delays over compensation agreement, Chelsea have picked up the pace in their bid to replace Antonio Conte with Sarri. Chelsea’s non-World Cup players are set to report for pre-season training on July 9 and the Blues are preparing to announce Sarri’s arrival before the players come back at Cobham.
Meanwhile, the club have started work in identifying summer targets for the new manager and are looking to complete the majority of their business this month. It is reported that talks have been initiated with the likes of Alisson Becker, Daniele Rugani and Aleksandr Golovin.