Sarri on his way to Chelsea with £57m Jorginho to follow

CHELSEA are finally set to put an end to their managerial stalemate after the Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, claimed a double deal for Maurizio Sarri and midfielder Jorginho to move to Stamford Bridge is close.

The Blues have been in negotiations with Napoli over making Sarri the successor to head coach Antonio Conte since the end of last season, but had been unable to strike an agreement.

It appears Chelsea have finally found a solution by agreeing to pay £50m, plus £7m in bonuses, to take both Sarri and Jorginho, who remains a target for Manchester City.

City have not given up on the player, having reached an agreement on personal terms with him two weeks ago, although there is a fear Jorginho could have become a pawn in the Sarri situation.

Napoli had wanted £8m for Sarri, which Chelsea were unwilling to pay after the Italian club appointed Carlo Ancelotti as their new manager. A compromise, however, seems to have been proposed involving a fee for Jorginho.

Confirming Chelsea are close to finally making a breakthrough, De Laurentiis said: “The Sarri deal is in the home stretch, it depends on him. I’ve laid down my conditions. It’s all in the hands of lawyers. Jorginho? We said to ourselves, ‘If Jorginho has any requests, we’ll take them into account.’

“For that, I’ll have to apologise to Manchester City. However, if the player would rather live in London than Manchester, I can understand that. If Chelsea are paying him even more, I can understand that too.”

Despite the claims made by De Laurentiis, City insist it is not true that Jorginho does not want to live in Manchester. (© Daily Telegraph, London)