Maurizio Sarri’s use of Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante could force them out of Chelsea, admits former defender Mario Melchiot.
There has been much criticism of the way in which Sarri has utliised Kante this season, in particular.
Having made his name as arguably the world’s best defensive midfielder, the Frenchman has been given a more attack-minded role, and both the player and the team have struggled because of it.
Sarri is also not getting the most out of Hazard, with rumours continuing to surface regarding the Belgian’s future.
Melchiot told talkSPORT that he is fearful Sarri’s treatment of arguably Chelsea’s two most important players will only heighten their chances of leaving the club this summer:
If you play players out of their position, you’re taking away their happiness and when their happiness goes, players are going to start looking at somewhere else.
Kante is happy doing the job he’s good at, but now Sarri is making him go forward.
His strength is breaking up play and winning the ball back, and that allows other Chelsea players to take more risks because they have that security of Kante being behind them.
That security is gone now and if they lose the ball, their opponents come straight at them.
It’s the same with Hazard – if you want to keep hold of your star players you have to make them feel good about what they’re doing.
Sarri has started to complain that he dribbles too much with the ball, but what do you want? That’s his ability and there is no player who wants to play against him. When he does that.
If you do not want him to dribble, if you want him to play one-touch instead, he should not be in your team.
It is being reported that Sarri will be sacked if Chelsea lose the EFL Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
The 60-year-old increasingly looks like a dead man walking, which could actually be beneficial to the Blues in the long run, in terms of Hazard and Kante’s respective futures.
