By Bariyo Brian Tumuramye
Maurizio Sarri leaving Chelsea would be bad news for the club’s younger players, claims former Blues midfielder Craig Burley. Sarri is heavily linked with a return to Serie A to take over at champions Juventus. The Italian is said to have told Chelsea he wants to leave the club to replace Massimiliano Allegri in Turin.
Sarri’s future at Stamford Bridge has been in doubt for several months despite a successful season on the pitch. Chelsea academy graduates Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were given plenty of game time towards the end of the campaign after calls from pundits and supporters to play the duo more. But Burley says Sarri’s leaving and a new manager coming in would not be ideal for them. He claims the instant demand for success at Chelsea, which has worked by changing managers, means younger players are given less of an opportunity. “They’ve got that sort of Real Madrid mentality that [Roman] Abramovich has that ‘if it’s not working, get them out, pay them, bring somebody else in’,” Burley said.
“Now that’s obviously had huge success in Spain for Madrid, particularly on the European front. “I think Chelsea’s scenarios and I think from the Chelsea supporters they’ll say ‘yeah, it’s not ideal because we want to have some of our younger guys coming through as well’. “That’s been a big complaint about Chelsea and one or two other cubs, that the younger guys are not getting their chance.“We saw Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi getting some game time as the season went on.“But I almost think Sarri was pressured into doing that. But I think in terms of the turnover of the manager they’ll just say ‘what success has it brought?’And certainly for a long period of Abramovich’s reign it’s brought a lot of success.” Burley added.
