Juventus boss Allegri 'agrees 4-year deal to become Chelsea manager'

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has agreed to take charge of Chelsea from the start of next season on a four-year deal until 2020, according to ​Calciomercato.com .

The report claims that the Italian will earn  £5.3m-a-season for the course of his spell, and that Chelsea have opted to hire him after his success since moving to Turin. Guus Hiddink is currently in charge of the club but has only signed a deal to take him through to the end of this campaign, following the sacking of Jose Mourinho before Christmas.

Stoke's Mark Hughes, Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone and former Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli have all been linked with the Chelsea job on a long-term basis too, but Roman Abramovich's first choice was initially believed to be Manchester City bound Pep Guardiola.

The Bayern Munich manager had previously announced he would leave Germany at the end of the season, sparking a race between a number of Premier League clubs to tie his signature down for the long term. City confirmed Guardiola's appointment on Monday, leaving rivals to turn to other prospective targets.

Allegri is reported to have been approached by Chelsea in recent days and has accepted because of his desire to manage in another league. The Italian coach guided Juventus to victory in a Serie A encounter with Genoa on Wednesday night, keeping them in touch at the top of the table with league leaders Napoli.

The 48-year-old said post-match, according to the ​club's website:  “When you come up against a physical and organised side like Genoa you must use the space as best you can and be clever in your movement off the ball and we didn’t quite manage that tonight.

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"The team that has the ball controls the tempo of the game and we looked dangerous on the occasions we acted quickly and got in behind their defence at pace. The spirit shown by the boys when they went down to ten men (after Simone Zaza’s red card) and the desire to keep working carried us over the line to victory.”