With Cesc Fabregas leaving Chelsea for AS Monaco and the west London club failing to bring in a replacement, Maurizio Sarri now has a bit of a dilemma on his hands.
Jorginho, who has become an essential cog to the Blues playing in that deep-lying midfield role, was being deputised by Fabregas. But with the Spaniard now at the Stade Louis II, there is no longer a natural alternative to the 27-year-old in the squad.
Sarri, though, has confirmed he is training Mateo Kovacic to play in that position in a move that is likely to impress Roman Abramovich and the rest of the Chelsea hierarchy.
“I think Kovacic could be a very good option. A very good option,” Sarri was quoted by Goal when speaking about how he plans to address his Jorginho conundrum. “Then we need to recover completely Loftus-Cheek, after his back problem.
“Then, we can play sometimes with Kovacic as a central midfielder and then Jorginho will be able to rest. We are trying in training with two players; the first is Ampadu and the second is Kovacic. It may be that for the characteristics, Kovacic is more suitable for this team.”
Rather than throw his toys out of the pram after not getting all of the transfer targets he wanted like previous Chelsea bosses, Sarri has shown he is willing to try and get by with what he has got by his use of Kovacic.
That is what his superiors, who no longer seem prepared to overspend in the transfer market, want to see. A coach who is open to the idea of coaching rather than a manager whose only answer is to spend.
From that perspective, Sarri is coming across as the club’s ideal head coach.