Maurizio Sarri had two transfer demands to the Chelsea board this January transfer window. One was to bring in a striker, while the other was to sign a replacement for Cesc Fabregas after he left for Monaco. The Italian got his first wish with Gonzalo Higuain, as his loan deal from Juventus was announced last week. However, the Blues fell drastically short of granting him his second request. Sarri's desire to bring in another central midfielder, despite the options he has already has at his disposal, was to have a back-up to Jorginho and, as the Italian described it himself, 'a specialist'. However, that never materialised, but why didn't the Blues get a deal over the line? The need for a midfielder occurred when Fabregas made it clear that he was not going to sign a new deal with the club as his contract was running out in the summer and he wanted to play first team football. On January 11 it was confirmed that Fabregas had joined his former Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry at Monaco, so the hunt was on for the Blues to bring in a replacement at Sarri's request. Two names were linked early with the Blues and they were Leandro Paredes from Zenit St Petersburg and Nicolo Barella from Cagliari. The former was always the number one choice and the Blues even tried to get the ball rolling on a transfer with an offer of around £27million. However, Paredes was not convinced by the project at Chelsea and the idea, at the age of 24, at coming in as a back-up to Jorginho and spending time on the bench. Meanwhile, that price did not match Zenit's target price for the midfielder and neither side were close to agreeing a final number. That was proven when PSG eventually bought him for €40million (£35mllion) a price that football.london understands the Blues were never willing to pay. Chelsea were never really interested in brining Barella into the club this winter, and with the £57million signing of Christian Pulisic done earlier in the window as well, the Blues did not want to spend big on another player. Sarri showed in the FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday that he was preparing for life without his transfer wish, trialling both Ethan Ampadu and Mateo Kovacic in that role. The board showed some faith in Sarri by signing a striker in Higuain, but were not willing to splash the cash on granting him his second transfer request. It will be interesting to see his reaction during his pre-Huddersfield Town press conference later today at 1pm. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android. Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.
The story behind Chelsea's unsuccessful move to grant Sarri his midfield wish - YouTube |
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