Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has conceded that Chelsea cannot catch the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool if their transfer ban stands.
FIFA on Wednesday upheld the decision to ban Chelsea from signing players during the next two transfer windows after an investigation into their signing of foreign under-18 players.
But they can sign under-16 players from the UK during the suspension period. The club will now appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
“It’s very difficult to cover the gap at the moment; we need to work, probably we need to do something from the market,” said Sarri in his pre-match conference ahead of Chelsea’s Europa League semi-final second leg clash against Eintracht Frankfurt
“So it’s not easy, because the level of the top two is very, very high. Of course, we have to work and we have to try. In my opinion we can reduce the gap.
“I think that we have to buy only one, two players. Otherwise it’s very difficult to improve immediately.”
On the game against Eintracht Frankfurt, Sarri said: “We want to reach the Europa League final and win it because we deserve a trophy this season.
“I am delighted at achieving the club’s target of making the top four.”
“A number of our players have improved this season, including Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley.”
Even though there were problems this season, Sarri believes things are going in the right direction.”
“In a semi-final you have to play against a strong team with very strong players. It’s difficult to be the favourite in a semi-final,” he said.
