Sarri 'confident' of January arrivals

Maurizio Sarri is confident Chelsea will reinforce their squad in January because he understands director Marina Granovskaia is "working very hard", amid reports linking them with Gonzalo Higuain. While most of the Premier League's biggest clubs look set for a quiet January transfer window, the same cannot be said of Chelsea. With Cesc Fabregas already gone and Callum Hudson-Odoi and Alvaro Morata interesting other clubs, Chelsea are also chasing targets of their own.

Higuain's name has been mentioned particularly prominently in the media, with the Argentina striker said to be eager about the chance of joining on loan from Juventus, having struggled to make much of an impact since signing a similar temporary deal at AC Milan. Sarri was unable to offer much of an update on their apparent pursuit of Higuain, whom he coached at Napoli, though he is optimistic about their chances of signing players.

"I don't know, I want to be clear, I can't help you," Sarri told reporters ahead of Saturday's clash with Arsenal. "I spoke to Marina two weeks ago, Marina knows my opinion. Then I decided to focus on the pitch, matches, training, so now I am confident because Marina is working very hard, but I don't know anything about the matter because I only focus on matches."I don't call her every evening, otherwise I spend all my mental energy on the [transfer] market. It's better I spend my mental energy on the pitch."

 

January 19, 2019

Prior to Fabregas' departure to Monaco, Sarri was adamant he wanted a replacement for the Spaniard in the event he was allowed to leave. He reiterated his stance after last weekend's Newcastle win, highlighting Jorginho's poor performance and saying he would have replaced him with Fabregas if he had still been at the club.

Although Cagliari's Nicolo Barella and Leandro Paredes of Zenit have been strongly linked, Chelsea still do not have a replacement, though Sarri insists he is not getting frustrated yet. "You know my opinion about the replacement of Cesc, we need one in my opinion," Sarri added. "Marina knows my opinion, so I am not frustrated at the moment."

Morata is said to be close to joining Atletico Madrid, though for the time being he remains available to Sarri and could play against Arsenal. Of course [he can play], but I don't know if he will play," he said. "But he is training with us. It's normal I think. Of course, he's in a very difficult moment, but it's normal for a player in January to be involved in the [transfer] market."