Despite all the turmoil, Chelsea actually enjoyed a very decent first season under Maurizio Sarri, with the relentlessly attacked manager guiding the Blues to a top 3 finish in the league, League Cup final lost only on penalties, and in the end to an impressive final win in the Europa League.
All season Sarri used an unaltered 4-3-3 formation, with the lack of flexibility being the main criticism towards him.
However, nobody can deny that the main big summer signing Jorginho was a great success. The Brazilian broke all kinds of passing records in his first season in England and also his presence in the heart of the midfield unleashed Kante and Hazard to venture much more forward. It was this newfound freedom that saw Hazard having his best ever season for Chelsea in his seventh year at the club.
On all his critics Sarri actually made Chelsea look solid and effective in most matches and apart from several bad defeats in January there were no other major dips in form. Also the Blues won the Europa League after going unbeaten in that competition from start to finish, with Giroud the big star in Europe with his 11 goals.
All-in-all the fact that Sarri will be having a proper summer, he was appointed only 2 weeks before the start of the season last summer, and the expected active transfer policy, Chelsea will be a team to watch next year.
All that said Hazard is leaving and it will be a challenge to see how Chelsea will manage without their go-to-man for the past 7 years.
