Sarri on injuries, replacing Fabregas and maybe bigger roles for Hudson-Odoi and Ampadu
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri spoke about a number of issues at a media conference ahead of the game against Tottenham. Here’s what the Italian had to say.
On whether Pedro, Willian and Giroud will be fit
“I don’t know at the moment. Pedro, Willian and Giroud are doing better. Yesterday they had training with the team-mates.
“I don’t know if they will be able to play tomorrow – maybe not for 90 minutes.”
On Ruben Loftus-Cheek
“Loftus of course is out now. We need to understand the situation with his back because in the last month he was in trouble.”
On Bayern Munich’s pursuit of Callum Hudson-Odoi
“I know only that for me he’s a very important player. He’s very young, but now he’s improving, especially in the defensive phase. I am really very happy with him
“I don’t know the situation with the club, but for me he’s an important player.”
On whether joining Bayern would be a good move
“I don’t think so. He’s an English player. He’s very young. He has the future. And I think he has a very great future here, in England, with the national team and with Chelsea. I think to stay here is better for him.”
On whether Hudson-Odoi will get first-team football if he stays
“He is ready I think. We have very important players in the same position of course. But I think now he is ready.
“Sometimes he will be on the bench, as Willian, as Pedro. Now I can start to consider him at the same level (as Willian and Pedro).”
On Cesc Fabregas’ expected move to Monaco
“Cesc? No. I have no news about Cesc. In my opinion, he needs to go.
“You know very well the situation. You know very well in this club there is a rule: the renewal of players over 30 is usually one year.
“He has an offer for two years. I don’t want a very important player like Cesc unhappy.”
On reports Cagliari’s Nicolo Barella has been lined up to replace Fabregas
“I don’t want to speak about players of other teams. But if Cesc goes of course we need a replacement.
“Now with the midfielders we are in trouble I think, because I don’t know at the moment the situation of Loftus – if the situation is serious or not.”
On Gary Cahill – and maybe replacing him with Ethan Ampadu
“I want to understand the situation – if he wants to go or not. So at the moment I think that his mind is not completely involved in our situation. So we need to wait.
“But the situation with Cahill I think is different because we have Ampadu, so we don’t need a replacement.”
On the importance of youngsters coming through
“First of all I want good players. But I am lucky because our academy is very good and if you have five or six players from the academy you can have more ‘soul’ than with 25 foreign players.”
On why Alvaro Morata did not celebrate his goals on Saturday
“I think it’s more important to score than to celebrate. He scored two goals in the last match and he has scored nine goals (this season).
“In his best season with Real Madrid he scored 25 goals, so if he is able to have a very good second half of the season he can try to reach his best.”
On whether Morata is happy at the club
“I don’t know. I hope so, but I don’t know.”
On facing Tottenham
“We need to approach the match in another way because we lost (against Spurs in the league) in the first 15 minutes.
“They were more aggressive than us, more determined than us, and so we know if the approach is the same there is no solution for us.
“I want to speak (to the players) because otherwise tactics are useless. We can speak about tactics only if we are at the same level in terms of application, otherwise tactics are useless.”
On hoping all fans behave
“I think we need the support of our fans of course. But we would like to have their support for us, not against the opponents.”
