Chelsea find a breakthrough in negotiations to sign new manager but there’s a catch – report

Napoli are willing to let go of Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea but only if the Blues agree that they would not be signing some of their players, according to reports from Italy.

Sport Italia (h/t Metro) claim that a breakthrough has been found in the deal for Sarri and an announcement could be made soon but it will feature a clause that is a little unheard of.

The report claims that Napoli are wary that Sarri could sign a few of the club’s best players in Raul Albiol, Piotr Zielinski and Elseid Hysaj. The players have release clauses in their contracts, which would make it easy for any club to sign them, should they pay the stipulated amount.

They are all key players for new boss Carlo Ancelotti but would be willing to join Sarri in London so the Serie A club wants to enter into a gentleman’s agreement with the Blues where we would not be buying the three players.

Albiol has a release clause of just £5m, while Zielinski and Hysaj would be available at £56m and £44m respectively.

The Italian club also does not want us to sign Kalidou Koulibaly but the central defender does not have a release clause in his contract.

A blow to Sarri’s hopes of signing quality players

Not being able to sign any of the four would be a big blow to Sarri as he would have hoped to revamp the Chelsea squad with a few trustworthy players of his own.

Seeing Zielinski and Hysaj at the club would have been great but it seems like we have to sacrifice a few players to ensure we get our man for next season but hopefully, Sarri will have other options lined up to bring to the Bridge.