Sarri takes himself off the market
MAURIZIO SARRI says his job does not depend on Chelsea’s success in the transfer market and claims he does not get involved in it.
Chelsea were unable to get Gonzalo Higuain’s loan move from Juventus over the line in time for the striker to be on the bench at Arsenal today.
But Sarri refuses to waste his time worrying about transfers or badgering Chelsea’s chief negotiator, Marina Granovskaia, for updates.
The manager said: “I don’t want to be involved because I want to spend my energy in something different, on the pitch. Otherwise, for me, it’s a problem.
“As you know very well in England, we have to play every three days. If I spend 50 per cent of my mental energy on something different, I am in trouble on the pitch.
“That is where I want to be focused. When the club knows very well my opinion, it’s enough. I am confident. I’m not able to understand why I have to be involved directly with the market.
“I don’t think my job depends on the market. Not at all. I don’t think so. My job is on the pitch.”
Chelsea and Juve have now agreed a loan with an option to extend or buy Higuain – who has spent the first half of the season at AC Milan – and the Blues expect to complete the deal in time for the Argentinian to face Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.
But asked at his press conference ahead of the clash with Arsenal whether a deal was close, Sarri said: “I don’t know. I want to be clear, because I can’t help you. “I spoke with Marina two weeks ago, so she knows my opinion on how to improve the team. I know Marina is working very hard, but I don’t know the market at all.
“I don’t call her every evening, otherwise I spend all my mental energy on the market. It’s better if I spend all my mental energies on the football.”
Sarri said his first priority was to improve the players he already has at the club and pointed to Callum HudsonOdoi, Ethan Ampadu, David Luiz and Ross Barkley as success stories so far.
He said: “I have to improve first of all my players. Odoi is improving. Ampadu is improving. David has returned to his top level. Barkley improved. So we are improving. Then there is the market, but the market is useful only if you need one player, two maximum.”
Sarri also praised Hudson-Odoi’s positive mental attitude and said the 18-year-old has not had his head turned by interest from Bayern Munich.
Sarri said: “He’s in a very positive moment mentally, for his attitude, fand or the way he is training.
“I don’t want to talk with him about something that I cannot resolve. So I am very happy with him. He has been improving a lot in the last two months.”
Chelsea could climb above Tottenham into third place with a win over the Gunners but are only one point better off than they were this time last season.
Sarri said: “At the moment, the numbers are really very similar. In the last part of last season, Chelsea didn’t do very well. So we have the possibility to improve on that.
“In the last matches, when we scored, we lowered ouer application and attention. So now we have to work just to avoid this. We lowered motivation and application after we scored.
“If you are winning 1-0, you cannot think that the match is easy. So you have to kill the match. Then you have to manage the match.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea could miss out on Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Leandro Paredes, with Paris Saint-Germain now in talks to sign the Argentinian. players at