‘My target is to stay’ – Sarri eyes long tenure in England amid Roma links

Maurizio Sarri hopes to remain in the Premier League regardless of his Chelsea future amid reports he could be targeted by Roma.

Former Napoli coach Sarri has endured a mixed first season in England, seeing his methods criticised by many but guiding the Blues to the top four of the Premier League, the EFL Cup final and potentially a Europa League final as well.

It appeared for a time as though his spell at Chelsea would be brief and Serie A side Roma, who have Claudio Ranieri in charge until the end of the season, are reportedly set to make an offer.

Editors’ Picks

But Sarri insists he is happy in England and suggested he could even manage a Premier League rival if he left Chelsea in the future.

“As I said in every press conference, I want to stay here,” he told a news conference ahead of his side’s European semi-final second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.

“I like English football very much and the atmosphere. If I can, I want to stay, my target is to stay in English football. I can try with another English club. I don’t know.”

On tomorrow’s game, Sarri says we want to reach the Europa League final and win it because we deserve a trophy this season. He expresses his delight at achieving the club’s target of making the top four. #CHEFRA

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 8, 2019

Chelsea held Eintracht to a 1-1 draw in Germany in the first leg, but Sarri acknowledges there is still work left to do back at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.

This is despite a weakened Frankfurt side losing 6-1 at Bayer Leverkusen in their last league outing, with all seven goals coming in the first half.

“I know we have to play a semi-final and, in a semi-final, you play a strong team with very strong players,” he said. “It’s difficult to be favourites.

“I know it will be a very difficult match. In their last match in the Bundesliga, they played probably [thinking about] the last match in the Europa League. But tomorrow, they can play at their best. It’s very difficult.

“They have two very good strikers, [Luka] Jovic and [Ante] Rebic, so we need to be careful.”