Chelsea will most probably fire Maurizio Sarri if the Blues lapse to a few more defeats, but their primary candidate wants assurances before joining in.
Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has been linked with a return to English football nearly one year after resigning as the Whites’ boss, just days after winning his third successive Champions League at the helm. Manchester United’s landing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has meant that the Frenchman’s news of heading to the Old Trafford became subdued of late and Chelsea has been considered a hot destination.
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Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea side has been mauled in its last two away Premier League fixtures as defeats to Bournemouth and Manchester City came their way by humiliating margins of 4-0 and 6-0 respectively. That said, they were even beaten by Arsenal by a 2-1 score at the Emirates Stadium during the month of January. The former Napoli manager has already said that his job is at risk every day, and that has linked Zidane with a move to the Stamford Bridge.
The former Real Madrid player and manager has had a highly successful managerial career with the Spanish giants which saw him win numerous accolades, most prestigiously three consecutive UEFA Champions Leagues. Zidane is keen on making a return to the managerial front after almost a year of sabbatical and with Chelsea hovering over him, he has placed three demands in front of the Blues if they want him to join, as per reports.
The first one of those is that the 5 time Premier League champions hand him a transfer budget of 200 million euros and complete control in the transfer windows, which will help the 46-year-old in refurbishing a Chelsea side that has shown a lack of motivation as well as incompetence over the last few seasons, especially in the 2018/19 campaign under the new boss Maurizio Sarri.
The second demand made by Zidane is that he continues to work closely alongside Chelsea’s most key individuals and a part of the club’s board of directors, Marina Granovskaia, who has a massive say in the purchasing and sale of players. The third and most important condition put forward by the World Cup winner is that he gets to keep Eden Hazard in west London amid rumours of the Belgium international potentially heading to Real Madrid.
Should Chelsea agree with Zinedine Zidane’s demands and hand him a contract?