• Tier 1 source Fabrizio Romano confirms Ancelotti as new Napoli boss, Guardian puts it on front page
• Chelsea-linked Maurizio Sarri chooses between the Blues and Russian side Zenith
Carlo Ancelotti, who guided Chelsea to the Premier League title and FA Cup trophy back in the days, was sacked by Bayern Munich last September. He now has signed a two-year deal with the Serie A club on a reported salary of €6m a season with the official confirmation pending, reports Romano.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis offered his team’s head coach Maurizio Sarri a new three-year deal to extend the fruitful partnership after Sarri led Napoli to a second-place finish with 91 points tally. However, Sarri is evidently conflicted as to what to do next as he failed to give a quick response, so Napoli president decided to make a push for Carlo Ancelotti.
For Sarri there are two evident paths to follow now. He reportedly has offers from both Chelsea and Zenith with either team capable of offering a huge contract. Sarri still has a €8m release clause on his current deal, but the option will expire on May 31. Sources in Italy say that the 59-year-old Sarri is actually mulling over an offer from Zenit St Petersburg after they dismissed Roberto Mancini.
Sky Sport journalist Federico Marchetti wrote on Monday that Sarri is still not convinced by Zenith, otherwise he would have accepted their offer. He wants to hold out for Chelsea. There is a feeling the situation is nearing its outcome.
That Sarri is leaving is now a mere formality. It was pretty apparent even last week when he stated after the final game of the season: ”Everything in life ends and it is better to finish things after writing a beautiful story. I don’t know if I will stay, I have to talk about it with my family. The situation is complicated. You can’t say you’re ready to go and try again with this squad when you don’t know that everyone will remain here. I could not go directly to another Italian team, and that if I had to make a change I would prefer to go abroad.”