It’s been a long time coming, but we appear to be entering the final stretch of Maurizio Sarri’s brief time as Chelsea manager, with an announcement expected to come relatively soon, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
The Italian newspaper dedicate a fair few column inches to the situation, explaining the reasons why we have reached this point and what comes next.
We all know (more or less) how we got here, but it’s what happened in the coming days that’s interesting, as everything rests on the successor.
In Italy, neither Juventus nor Maurizio Sarri are particularly worried about the stalling from the Blues, who are simply waiting to find the replacement before making everything official.
With that in mind, Gazzetta believe we could be treated to a club statement as early as Friday or ‘Monday at the latest’.
As for the fee, it’s still €6m, although Juventus are trying to find some other way of compensating Chelsea rather than simply pay the cash directly.
Details aren’t given, but previous reports suggested a similar deal the Blues cut with Napoli when they bought Jorginho, adding a bit of extra cash on top fo the transfer fee to make up for Sarri’s compensation.
We’ll have to wait and see on that front, but we’ve definitely reached the point of when and not if for the Italian manager’s exit now.