Sarri's agent all but seals CFC departure agreement.

It appears that Lampard, if he does take over, will likely bring ex-CFC player Jody Morris (meh) with him as assistant, and Zola will be pushed to a lesser role or will leave the club altogether. Morris recently backed out of the 'legends' charity match in Madrid between CFC and RM which Zola was a part of.

The match on Sunday finished 5-4 to Madrid and with tickets starting at just €5 the Bernabeu was all but packed to capacity. The players arrived by parachute, landing on the pitch to great applause, particularly Shevchenko and Zola. But the home crowd afforded even greater applause to Raul, Guti, Morientes and others. Claude Makalele and Ricardo Carvalho played for both sides, swapping colours at the break.

Real took an early 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. Carvalho and Poyet pulled it back minutes later to 3-2. Karembeu drilled a scorcher in just before half time for 4-2.
Gallas made it 4-3 a minute into the 2nd half, potting from close range. But a Raul penalty strike made it 5-3 before too long. Shortly after Zola came on, Malouda darted down the park and molested the Madrid net with a screamer with a quarter-hour to go. 

As the ref blew up it was embraces all round and the crowd was happy to welcome various players' wives, girlfriends and offspring onto the pitch for photographs and friendly chatter.

Meanwhile, earlier this afternoon, Derby chairman Mel Morris, had still not given up hope on keeping Lampard. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm hoping this guy is going to manage us next season."

You're not the only one, brah.