Chelsea: Hazard, Courtois futures in board’s hands, says new coach

The futures of star Belgian duo Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois can be decided

by the Chelsea board said the club’ s new manager Maurizio Sarri on Wednesday .

The 59 - year - old Italian speaking at his unveiling, after being appointed the

successor to sacked compatriot Antonio Conte , admitted to being disinterested by

the transfer market .

This will be music to the board ’s ears as one of the reasons for Conte falling out

badly with them shortly after guiding the club to the Premier League title in 2017

was his carping over a lack of say in buying new players and the ones being

bought were not of the same level to those who left .

Hazard and Courtois both shone

at the World Cup — the latter

winning The Golden Glove for

goalkeeper of the tournament

as Belgium finished a best ever

third — but with their contracts

running down have been linked

with moves to Spain .

Hazard said after the Belgians

beat England 2- 0 in the third

place play - off last Saturday it “ Might be time to discover something different , ” and

Real Madrid are prepared to pay a reported £200 million ( $260 million , 224 million

euros ) for the Belgian playmaker .

Sarri, who forged his reputation in charge of Napoli guiding them to runners - up

twice and third in his other season , said of course it would be for the better to

keep the best players but at the end of the day it isn ’ t his priority.

“ Clearly we would always like to keep all the strongest players, ” said Sarri, who

began in English but switched to his native Italian so he did not “ say anything

wrong” .

“ This is what any manager wants to do , this is what any club wants to do .

“ Then we will have to see how the transfer market goes over the next few days .

“ I think that I am one of the few managers who is bored by the transfer market .

“ I don ’t want to talk about the

transfer market and I ’ m not that

interested in it .”

– ‘Extremely difficult challenge ’ –

Sarri, a chain - smoking former banker , said he came to the Chelsea job with an

open mind and had chosen not to ask his successor at Napoli and former Chelsea

handler Carlo Ancelotti for any advice or insight into a post that has seen many

different faces down the years since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003 .

“ Well , for me this is a difficult challenge , but a fascinating one , ” said Sarri.

“ I know it will be very difficult and here we have the strongest coaches in the

world and the strongest players in the world .

“ I know this will be an extremely difficult challenge for me .

“ I have not asked anything of anyone .”

Despite having won no silverware Sarri was named Serie A coach for the 2016 / 17

season and has praised Conte for what he had achieved in his two year spell at the

club.

Conte won the FA Cup last term , but crucially failed to secure them a spot in this

season ’s Champions League .

“ This is a post - World Cup time,” said Sarri.

“ It will take some time to build a slightly different way of playing .

“ All good things Antonio Conte did must be left . They must not be changed. ”

Sarri, whose methods are admired by title winners Manchester City’ s manager Pep

Guardiola , said he would not go into the discussions he had had with Abramovich ,

who has recently been embroiled in a visa dispute with the British authorities .

“ They have just asked me to build a season to be competitive in all competitions, ”

said Sarri .

“ Then during the season we ’ ll see whether or not we want to have more specific

objectives .

“ Our owner is an extremely reserved person, so I don ’ t want to start a work

relationship with him by speaking about private things . ”