Ancelotti signs with Napoli to replace potentially Chelsea-bound Sarri — report

Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti met with (probably) his future boss for at least three hours on Tuesday night at a restaurant in Rome — here’s Corriere dello Sports’ live blog of the event from outside of the restaurant — which seemed to end without a concrete conclusion. But this morning, reports from Italy, including Corriere’s incoming director and TV personality Ivan Zazzaroni, are claiming that Ancelotti “has signed” with Napoli, putting pen to paper on a massive two-year, €6.5m contract, with an option for a third.

Unsurprisingly, this is being seen as a rather significant statement of intent from De Laurentiis, paying about as much as he would’ve to current head coach Maurizio Sarri, but landing one of the biggest names in world football management.

Assuming that Ancelotti is the first piece in the line of dominos connecting Sarri to Chelsea, we could finally see some movement in that regard from the Blues.

Conte has surprisingly not been sacked so far, going on four days now from Saturday’s FA Cup final victory. Surely that uncertainty cannot go on for too long if we are to have any hope of a good summer in the transfer market, the contract negotiating table, and the training ground. Either keep him, or sack him!

Hopefully clarity in Naples will lead to clarity in London.