Maurizio Sarri has revitalised Gary Cahill’s Chelsea career by naming the former England defender his official Stamford Bridge club captain.
Cahill has previously admitted he could have to leave Chelsea for regular first-team football, but manager Sarri has endorsed his Blues future by reappointing him as skipper.
Sarri had refrained from making a firm decision on the captaincy after replacing Antonio Conte as Chelsea boss in the summer, but revealed he canvassed his squad’s opinion in landing on Cahill as official skipper.
Eden Hazard will be fit enough to play some part in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace, with the Blues still getting to grips with Cahill’s renewed captaincy.
“The captain is Cahill, and if he’s not on the pitch it’s (Cesar) Azpilicueta,” said Sarri.
“Our captain is Cahill because Cahill was the captain last season and I have spoken with his mates, and everybody told me that he was really a very good captain.”
Asked whether appointing Cahill as skipper means he will definitely stay at Chelsea at least until the end of the season, Sarri said: “I don’t know. It depends on him, I think.
“He played very often in the last seven, eight matches. It depends on him, on the club I think, but for me Cahill is very important on the pitch but also off the pitch.”
Belgium forward Hazard has been struggling with a back problem, but Sarri confirmed he will be fit enough to take some part against the Eagles.
“Yesterday Eden had a large part of training with the team,” said Sarri.
“Maybe he will not be ready to play for 90 minutes at the moment because it was his first training in the last two weeks. But probably he will be able to play for 40, 45 minutes. So for us it’s important.”
Asked whether Hazard could start on Sunday, Sarri added: “I don’t know, I want to speak with him first.”
Sarri also ruled out the possibility of England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek going out on loan in the January window.
Loftus-Cheek fired a fine hat-trick in the 3-1 Europa League win over BATE Borisov, but is yet to start a Premier League game under new boss Sarri.
The 22-year-old featured off the bench in the 4-0 league win at Burnley however, and now Sarri has shown further faith in him by insisting he wants to keep him on hand.
“Ruben in October played four matches out of five, so I think that at the moment the situation is not for loan, of course,” said Sarri.
“He has improved, but I think he still needs to improve more from a tactical point of view.
“The rest is good. He has great physical characteristics, he’s fast, solid, he has impact, and technically he is very good. I think that if he wants to play like a midfielder he has to improve in the defensive phase at the moment, but his potential is great.”
Former Everton midfielder Ross Barkley has capped his fine form with a nomination for Premier League player of the month, with Sarri backing the 24-year-old for a pivotal Stamford Bridge role.
“In the first week I saw some matches, Chelsea and some matches of Everton, but I wanted to see him on the pitch,” said Sarri.
“He has a great quality, technical quality. He has great quality from the physical point of view and he’s improving after the injury last season, and has improved from a tactical point of view.
“So he’s becoming a very, very important player for us. Not only for us but also I think for England.”
