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Chelsea news: Italian journalist makes controversial Maurizio Sarri move claim
AN ITALIAN journalist claims Chelsea aren't willing to pay the cash needed to get Maurizio Sarri as their new boss.
It had been reported on Friday that the Blues had cooled interest in Sarri due to controversial comments he made back in 2016.
Sarri was given a two-game ban for homophobic insults he aimed at Internazionale manager Roberto Mancini - and it was that which cost him a chance of replacing Antonio Conte at Chelsea.
But Italian reporter Tancredi Palmeri is adamant that's not the case and the problem instead comes down to money.
He tweeted: "I’m seeing flying around that Chelsea would not pick Sarri because of past record of insults he said.
"I can tell you that, if Sarri won’t be picked, this would be just an excuse to justify the fact Chelsea didn’t/couldn’t get rid of the financial difficulties to get him."
Sarri has a contract until 2020 but he has effectively been sacked after Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis hired Carlo Ancelotti.
If Chelsea do want to get Sarri in, they will have to pay the £7million release clause in his current deal.
Problems are mounting for Chelsea who could be left with no new stadium, no manager and no star player this summer, former chief executive Trevor Birch warned.
I’m seeing flying around that Chelsea would not pick Sarri because of past record of insults he said.
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) June 1, 2018
I can tell you that, if Sarri won’t be picked, this would be just an excuse to justify the fact Chelsea didn’t/couldn’t get rid of the financial difficulties to get him
Abramovich has called a halt to the £1billion redevelopment of Stamford Bridge and dropped his request for a UK investor visa in retaliation to the government's hardline stance on Russian oligarchs in this country, prompting worries he may even be thinking of selling the club.
Birch, who left Chelsea in 2003, said: "Chelsea fans now face the prospect of no stadium, no manager and no star player if Eden Hazard, above, moves to Real Madrid.
"The stadium news is obviously linked to the visa situation.
"There have been rising costs and it's a difficult project to deliver, but this is clearly Roman upping the ante in the spat with the Home Office.
"If the visa issue isn't resolved anything could happen."