MONITORING DESK
WASHINTON
Maurizio Sarri said Chelsea have no chance of competing with Manchester City and Liverpool next season unless their two-window transfer ban is overturned.
Chelsea were hit with the ban for breaches of the international transfer rules on minors and FIFA threw out their appeal against the decision on Wednesday.
The Blues will take their fight against the transfer embargo to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but it was the worst possible news for Sarri ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Having booked a place in next season’s Champions League after securing a top four finish in the Premier League, Chelsea are bidding to win the first trophy of Sarri’s reign in the Europa League.
They are favoured to reach the final after drawing 1-1 in Frankfurt in the first leg last week.
But Sarri is concerned that a potentially uplifting end to hs troubled first season would be erased if Chelsea are unable to sign the players he believes are needed to fight City and Liverpool in the Premier League.
“It’s very difficult to cover the gap at the moment; we need to work, probably we need to do something from the market,” said Sarri, whose third-placed team are 24 points behind leaders City.
“So it’s not easy, because the level of the top two is very, very high. As we can see in Europe so it’s not easy.
