Maurizio Sarri continues to wait for Chelsea to call, but meanwhile Antonio Conte is taking charge of pre-season training.
The situation has been allowed to drag on into the new campaign and there is still no clarity.
Napoli are asking for at least €8m to release Sarri from his contract, some even report up to €20m, so the Italian tactician is in limbo.
Maurizio Sarri continues to wait for Chelsea to call, but meanwhile Antonio Conte is taking charge of pre-season training.
The situation has been allowed to drag on into the new campaign and there is still no clarity.
Napoli are asking for at least €8m to release Sarri from his contract, some even report up to €20m, so the Italian tactician is in limbo.
Chelsea started their pre-season training this weekend and Conte’s staff took charge at Cobham, even if the official club website left him out of their photographs.
Conte’s brother Daniele posted an image of the whole staff – most of them Italian – standing together with Conte at the training ground.
“Come on Chelsea. Come on Team Conte!!! Chelsea 2018/19” read the message on Instagram.
Despite weeks of speculation and quite open negotiations with other Coaches, Conte is to all intents and purposes still the manager of Chelsea.
His contract runs to June 2019 and the club would have to pay around €11m to terminate with the whole staff.
It’s entirely possible that after all the negotiations, Chelsea could stand by Conte as the most efficient course of action.