Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri wants face-to-face showdown talks with Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois as he battles to keep them out of Real Madrid’s clutches
CHELSEA boss Maurizio Sarri is determined to cling on to star duo Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois and has insisted on meeting them face-to-face to thrash out heir futures.
The Italian chief, 59, wants to "build" on what he has rather than start afresh with new players, starting with keeping the Belgians away from Real Madrid.
Courtois is said to be on the way to Real Madrid in a £30million deal, with Hazard possibly next.
However, the Blues No1's situation all hinges on whether they can out-muscle Liverpool to the signing of Roma stopper Alisson.
On his squad situation, Sarri claimed: "Clearly we would always like to keep the strongest players, this is what any manager wants to do, what any club wants to do.
"But we will have to see how the market goes over the next few days. I feel much more a pitch manager than a general manager.
"I think I am one of the few managers who is bored by the transfer market. I don’t want to talk about it and not that interested in it.
"My task is growing the players that we have."
But Sarri is insistent on having showdown talks with Hazard and Courtois in person, rather than over the phone.
The Blues chief revealed: "A telephone call without looking them in the eye will not give me any certainty.
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"I want to meet them face-to-face, understand what the best thing is to do for everyone.
"I would also like a player to come on the pitch for four or five days to have a clear idea what the situation is."
Sarri once again reiterated his desire to have Chelsea playing a "fun" brand of football.
The Italian boss added: "My goal is to have fun and be competitive in all the competitions until the end.
"My personal objective is to have fun, the biggest gift is to have fun while you do the job.
"I think football, fun and winning go very much together. I hope Chelsea fans can be entertained. Much depends on the players.
"I am convinced that if a team has fun, often the fans have fun too.
"This very important, and obviously there is the material objectives to reach high level. But we must start by having fun.";
However, it's not all fun for Sarri... as he has admitted they desperately need more quality in their midfield ranks.
The Blues chief added: "I spoke with the club and I said ideally a pinch of quality is lacking in our central midfield, for a certain kind of style, otherwise they are very high level.
"It will be up to me to understand what kind of game is the most suitable to a final squad."
But ahead of his opening game in the Community Shield against Manchester City, Sarri is worried he will not have time to imprint his style on his stars.
He said: "I cannot change 20 players, I must adapt to Chelsea, adapt to the players.
"Then we will see whether we need to change something in my game if the squad is telling me to play a different game because of their characteristics."
Meanwhile, Sarri has singled out Gary Cahill for praise.
The ex-Napoli boss claimed: "A number of English players are on the lists so there will be English players for sure.
"I am not interested in nationality. They are neither English nor French, they are strong or not.
"With respect to Cahill I think he can still give us a lot.
"As for keeping the English players, according to my experience in Italy, something must be left. One of the teams with the highest number of Italian players was Juventus.
"We should respect a very long tradition."