If Il Mattino on Tuesday are to be believed, then the English media jumped the gun a teeny-weeny bit when it comes to Chelsea agreeing a deal with Napoli over Maurizio Sarri.
The Serie A side’s former manager is still technically contracted to his old club, and while his €8m release clause has expired, the Blues still need to reach some sort of agreement with Aurelio de Laurentiis to free him.
Reports emerged that a £4.4m offer had been accepted, but Il Mattino state the two clubs have yet find a compromise.
The local newspaper explain it was ‘probably’ Fali Ramadani, Roman Abramovich’s ‘plenipotentiary’, who was ready to put €5m on the table, but Napoli still feels this falls short of their valuation of the final two years of Sarri’s contract.
Down Chelsea’s end, the Blues are said to be prepared to pay Antonio Conte €18m to get rid of him, all the while negotiating with their new man to see if they can avoid repeating this situation down the line.
Gianfranco Zola, the club’s future technical director, should Sarri be appointed, has told the Premier League side the 59-year-old’s philosophy won’t bring results straight away, which is why the club are trying to cover their back.
Should they decide things aren’t going to plan during or at the end of his first season, Chelsea would like to be able to sack him for a mere €7m, more or less.
This is still being discussed with the manager himself, but Il Mattino don’t appear too alarmed that this could cause a breakdown in talks.
