While Alfredo Pedullà is hot on the trail of a supposed “gentlemen’s agreement” between Chelsea and Napoli over Maurizio Sarri, which would allow the coach to join Chelsea for free in exchange for a sort of non-compete clause that would prevent the coach’s new club (i.e. Chelsea) from poaching any players from his old (i.e. Napoli), other reports are offering the latest details on the personal terms that were supposedly agreed some time ago.
The latest value put on the “total agreement” by Corriere della Sera (via Sport Witness) is a net salary of €5m per year, with an additional €1m bonus if Sarri leads the team back to the Champions League. It would be a two-year deal with a club option for a third. The latter part has stayed consistent since the first reports emerged, though the salary keeps steadily rising. The €5m figure does match Sarri’s first reported demands of Napoli, back when a contract extension rather than a contract dissolution was on the negotiating table.
Corriere also resurrect the Gianfranco Zola as assistant manager rumor, which is more than welcome, though wouldn’t be official until Zola finishes his World Cup punditry gig on South African television.
The report expects all of this to close “within a week” with an official announcement to follow, but at this point any prognostication with a specific timeframe should probably be taken with a large grain of salt and no expectations. In fact, this whole thing has slowly turned rather bizarre as it’s dragged on for almost two months now and still seems a fairly large step away from closing. Don’t hold your breath, is all I’m saying.