Chelsea are close to hiring former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri, according to reports.
The Blues have been in talks with the manager for a very long time and they are in the final phase of discussion as they could officially unveil him as their next manager.
Though the Italian manager is days away from joining the Blues, Roman Abramovich has reportedly told Sarri to include Gianfranco Zola as part of his backroom staffs.
To this effect, Zola will be flying to the West London Club this week to finalize deal with the club so as to become part of Sarri’s team.
Zola played for the Blues from 1996 to 2003 and he is tipped to make a return to the club according to the Standard Sport.
Despite being replaced by the Naples last month, Sarri’s move to Chelsea would make the Blues pay at least €4.3m to Napoli due to the manager’s release club in his contract with the Serie A side.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are officially set to partway with Conte, who has been impressive since he took over from José Mourinho in 2016.
Sarri, alongside Zola, are expected to make some changes to the team ahead of next season as the Blues hierarchy will surely want to see their club return back to European scene by the end of next season
It is of great importance that they add more players to bolster the team ahead of next season.