Barcelona-based sports daily, the creatively titled SPORT are reporting today that former Barcelona player and head coach Luis Enrique would prefer Chelsea over Arsenal in his return from a 12-month sabbatical. This follows in the wake of reports yesterday that Arsenal were “confident” that they could get him over Chelsea. (HA!)
‘Lucho’ has been linked with both London sides over the past 4-5 months, first the Blues and then the Gunners after Arsene Wenger confirmed that he’s stepping down at the end of the season. While there has been no such confirmation over the fate of Conte at Chelsea, it is assumed that he will be leaving as well.
Last month, Luis Enrique revealed in an interview that he wanted a “project” that would excite him, and apparently Chelsea meet that criteria. SPORT talk about a well-funded rebuild at the Blues, though that seems a bit far-fetched considering the austerity measures that have become more and more obvious over the past few years, as well as recent speculation about “tighter purse strings”.
Both Chelsea and Arsenal have supposedly already balked at the 47-year-old’s initial wage demands, too, with other candidates stepping to the fore instead. Still, SPORT maintain that Lucho is close to Chelsea, or at least “closer” than any other potential destination and that he will make a decision on his future “in the next few days”. Of course, the same outlet claimed that he was practically just hours away from joining Chelsea ... in early February, or roughly 2000 hours ago. Just a matter of hours!