Zinedine Zidane is reportedly open to taking up the Chelsea managerial job, provided that the Premier League giants meet with his three conditions.
As per a report from The Sun, Chelsea will have to meet with three conditions specified by former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, if they want to name him as Maurizio Sarri’s successor at the club.
It is no secret that current manager Sarri finds himself in a precarious position with regard to his job, after a poor run of results over the past month or so. A 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, followed by a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Bournemouth and a 6-0 hammering by Manchester City has seen Chelsea drop out of the top four of the Premier League.
And following Monday night’s 2-0 defeat at home to Manchester United in the fifth round of the FA Cup, the pressure on Sarri will have further intensified. Post the game, the Chelsea supporters were seen booing the Italian, questioning his tactics and use of substitutions in the high-profile encounter.
With Sarri’s job believed to be hanging by a thread, reports earlier this month had claimed that Chelsea had identified Zidane as a potential candidate to take over the mantle from the former Napoli manager. And as per the latest report from The Sun, the Frenchman is open to the opportunity, provided Chelsea meet three of his conditions.
The report suggests that the first and foremost condition for the former Real Madrid boss to consider taking over the reins at Stamford Bridge is that, Chelsea make sure that Eden Hazard remains at the club.
The Belgian international has been linked with a move to Real Madrid, with Sarri recently stating that the wing-wizard would be free to leave if he wanted to. However, Zidane wants to build his team around the 28-year-old and wants him to remain at the club, if he is to be named the Blues’ boss.
The second item on Zidane’s wishlist, as per The Sun, is that the club grant him a transfer budget of £200 million in the summer to remould the squad into his own image and improve the overall quality of the roster.
And finally, the Frenchman also wants a big say in Chelsea’s recruitment plans along with club director Marina Granovskaia. The last point has been a bone of contention for previous Chelsea managers, most notably with Antonio Conte, who was unhappy with not being granted the licence to sign his preferred candidates in the transfer market.
Sarri’s situation has worsened post the defeat to Manchester United and a defeat against City in the Carabao Cup final this weekend could spell the end for the Italian’s reign at Chelsea. Along with Zidane, fellow Frenchman Laurent Blanc is also reported to be in the running for the job.
It remains to be seen if Chelsea keep faith in Sarri despite the recent downslide in form and decide to stick with the Italian till the end of the season. And if they do not, it will be interesting to see if they opt for Zidane or Blanc to fill the vacancy or pursue some other target.
