Sarri on his and Hazard’s futures, Cech, Mkhitaryan, Kante latest and speaking to Abramovich
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri spoke about a number of issues at a news conference to preview next week’s Europa League final against Arsenal. Here’s what the Italian had to say.
On N’Golo Kante
“Of course we are trying to recover Kante. He had part of the training yesterday with the group, so we are optimistic. I think he will be able to play the final.
“Rudiger no chance – he is out and Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi are of course out. The only one we can recover is Kante.”
On speculation about his future
“My future is Wednesday. I need to think only of the final at this moment.
“I have two years of my contract left, so I have had no contact with other clubs at the moment.
“I have to speak with my club first of all after the final. I want to know if they’re happy with me or not.
“I can only work. I can only try to improve my team. I can only try to win more matches. I don’t know what more to do.
“In my opinion we had a very good season. Of course we have to do more, we need to improve more.”
On whether he wants to stay
“As you know I like the Premier League very much. At the moment it is the most important championship in the world. It’s very exciting to be here but now it’s time to think only of the final.
“I am very happy to stay in the Premier League. Chelsea is one of the most important clubs in the Premier League, so I am really very happy.
“But we have to discuss the situation. It’s normal after every season to discuss with a club.”
On possible signings
“I don’t know what to say about the transfer market because my future is the final. I am not able at this moment to think about the next season.
“I am only able to think about the final because my feeling is that for our group this final is really very important.”
On whether he deserves more time
“I think we’ve had a good season with a lot of problems of course – we lost some matches very badly. But at the end we had a very good season.
“We finished in the Premier League in third position and we got to the final of the League Cup – a very difficult competition.
“Now we have the possibility to play the final of the Europa League, so this season is a good season. Of course if we are able to win a trophy it will become a wonderful season.
“I think this group deserves to continue, to try to improve more.”
On suggestions his style is not suited to England
“I cannot understand why. My football? I think in the last two years Manchester City won everything in England. The way City play football is not mine but is similar. So I think we can play my football in England.”
On the condition of his players
“We finished the Premier League tired, so after the match in Boston we had three days off. I think we recovered and now we are working.
“But it’s not easy to prepare for a very important match after 62 matches, because the players are tired – mentally and physically.”
On Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s injury
“In Boston the pitch was not really very good but with an injury like that I don’t think there is only one reason. Probably there are a lot of reasons. We cannot say that the only reason is the pitch of course.
“You know very well my opinion about Loftus-Cheek. He was able to become a very important player for us, especially in an open match, because with space he is really very useful for us. So I am disappointed, but it is useless to continue to speak about him.
“I am sure that he will be able to return stronger than in the past. He will become one of the best midfielders in Europe.”
On how long Loftus-Cheek is likely to be out
“I don’t know the timing because it’s very difficult to say now. It could be four months or five months.
“Probably he will be able to train with the group after five months and then he needs to be able to play at 100% of his possibilities. so I don’t know the exact time but maybe from four months to six months.”
On speaking to Roman Abramovich in Boston
“The owner was there only to check the condition of Loftus-Cheek. I spoke with him only for one minute, no more, but only about Loftus-Cheek.”
On whether Eden Hazard will leave
“I don’t know. As I say in every press conference, I want to respect his decision. I hope that he will stay with us but we need to be ready if he decides something different.”
On whether he has discussed Hazard’s future with him
“If I have spoken with him I don’t want to say anything.”
On whether Hazard would fit in at Real Madrid
“He is good for every team of course. But he is really very good also for us.”
On complaints about the final being in Baku
“I feel the same. The location is a big problem for our fans. It would be better in another location.
“Of course for everybody it is better to play in front of 30,000 fans of Chelsea and 30,000 fans of Arsenal. You do this job for this match for these matches it’s better for everybody to have the fans with the team.”
On whether Gonzalo Higuain will stay
“You are thinking about next season. We have to play a final and then after the final we have the whole month of June to think about the future, so now I think it is best for us to be focused on the final.”
On Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan missing the final
“I am really disappointed about the situation because I’d like to see him on the pitch. I don’t know what to say but I would like very much to see him on the pitch.
“In a situation like this you can only respect the decision of the man. Not the player, the man.”
On whether fans have judged Sarri harshly
“I think we can improve of course. For the fans we need to play better and need to win more, there isn’t another way.”
On Petr Cech being set to take a role at Chelsea
“I don’t like to speak about an Arsenal player because at the moment he is a professional player and he has to play for Arsenal until the end of June, so I want to respect the player and the club. I don’t want to speak about Cech in this moment.”
On what kind of match he expects against Arsenal
“Usually against Arsenal it’s an open match. The match will be difficult. They have two very different dangerous strikers – Lacazette and Aubameyang.
“They are very dangerous as a team in the offensive phase, they are aggressive and able to press, so it’s not easy to play against them. They are a very good team and I think the coach worked very well, so it’s a very difficult match.”
“Our feeling is that we deserve to win. We want a trophy for our group, for the team, for the players, for the technical staff and also for the club of course.”
On speaking to Christian Pulisic this week
“I spoke with him two or three months ago. Pulisic which knows very well our team and our way of playing. He is ready to join the group.”
On whether he rates Pulisic
“I told the club my opinion and my feeling about him was very positive. Christian is a very young player of course. He is really very strong, so I am really very happy. I think he has the possibility to improve more and he could become a very important player for us.”
On whether he needs to win the final to keep his job
“If the situation is like this, I want to go immediately because you cannot have 10 months of work and then I have to play everything in 90 minutes. It’s not right. You are happy with my work or you are not happy.”
On whether Arsenal, who need to secure a Champions League place, will be more motivated
“It is the risk of course. At the other end,we have to consider the pressure on Arsenal. At this moment we risk having less motivation than the opponents but probably they have more pressure. So there is a positive side and a negative side.
“We didn’t want this game to reach the Champions League. We wanted to reach the Champions League by the Premier League and win a trophy, so this trophy is very important for us and our feeling is that we deserve to win a trophy.”
