Chelsea’s Europa League final rout of Arsenal in mid-week will almost certainly serve as the send-off to superstar winger Eden Hazard, who is poised to join Real Madrid. That was highly expected heading into the match. It was not, however, expected that manager Maurizio Sarri would also be making final appearance for the west London club.
His future was speculated upon of course, but none of us we were really sure if Sarri would stay with Chelsea or move on to another destination. We now have our answer as the Italian, according to multiple reports, is set to return to his native country and coach the nation’s flagship sports franchise, Juventus.
According to Football Italia, Sarri’s agent Fali Ramadani has left London with assurances from the higher-ups at Stamford Bridge that he will be free to leave without breach of contract. The report is by Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla, who was the first to report Sarri’s move from Napoli to Chelsea.
In other words, he’s a very trusted source, and since his story broke, other outlets have picked up on it, with some citing their own sources at the club.
As Sarri moves on to replace the departed Max Allegri, Chelsea will now be on their third manager since the summer of 2016.
Sarriball reigned at Stamford Bridge for just one season, resulting in the first trophy of his coaching career.
Sarri’s predecessor, Antonio Conte, only lasted two seasons at the club and he announced yesterday that he will take the Inter Milan job.
As for Chelsea, they will now enter a very tumultuous and uncertain time. With their manager and best player set to leave, and a looming transfer ban (upon which they are awaiting final appeal), they will have to rebuild, and will be severely hamstrung in doing so.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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