New Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri says he wants to keep Eden Hazard at the club and “improve” the Belgium forward. Hazard, who has been linked with Real Madrid, said last weekend “it might be time to discover something different” after six years at Stamford Bridge. Sarri, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, described Hazard as “one of the top two or three European players”.
The former Napoli boss said: “Hazard is a very high-level player. I hope that I will manage to improve him.”
Sarri said he wanted to meet Hazard, who is away on holiday after representing Belgium at the World Cup.
“I would like to have fun during the week with him. This would mean very good results and mean we would have been very competitive during the season,” added the 59-year-old Italian.
Asked if he planned to phone Hazard – or any other player linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge – Sarri added: “A telephone call without looking them in the eye would not give me any certainty. “I’d like to meet them face to face. I would also like a player to come on the [training] pitch four or five days to have a clear idea.”