• Sarri, 60, had two years left on his £5m-a-year Chelsea contract.
• Chelsea were adamant Sarri would only go on their terms.
Maurizio Sarri was finally given the green light to become Juventus manager after the Italian champions agreed on a £7million compensation fee with Chelsea on Thursday night.
The two clubs struck a deal to bring an end to the protracted negotiations after further talks between Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia and Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici, who flew to London to try and find a resolution, on Thursday.
Sarri, 60, had two years left on his £5m-a-year Chelsea contract. And the Blues were refusing to cave into Juventus’s attempts to land Sarri on the cheap. At one stage Juve hoped they would land Sarri for nothing as they usually refuse to pay compensation for managers.
But Chelsea dug their heels in and forced Juve to cough up in another negotiation win for Granovskaia, who was holding out for as big a compensation fee as possible, a week after she made Real Madrid agree on a deal worth up to £150m for Eden Hazard despite the Belgian having just one year left on his contract.
Sarri is now clear to sign the three-year deal he agreed in principle with Juventus last month after they made him their top choice to replace Massimiliano Allegri.
He will earn up to £6.2m as manager of Juventus and his exit will be rubber-stamped in the next 24 hours, while Chelsea will step up their attempts to replace him with Derby boss Frank Lampard the leading candidate.
Derby are braced for an offer for Stamford Bridge legend Lampard who would bring former Blues midfielder and youth coach Jody Morris from Pride Park back to their old club as his assistant.
Another potential contender, Allegri, confirmed he will be taking a year-long break from the game, ruling him out of the running. Ralph Rangnick has impressed as RB Leipzig boss but is rated as an outsider to replace Sarri.
Chelsea were adamant Sarri would only go on their terms and, as reported on Wednesday, they were happy to let the situation drag on until their demands were met. While he seemed set for the sack earlier this season the club’s stance changed when he oversaw a strong finish to the season. After leading Chelsea to the Carabao Cup final, he also steered them to third in the Premier League and won the Europa League.