Chelsea have been banned from registering new players for the next two transfer windows after breaching rules regarding the signing of minors.

A statement released by FIFA on Friday confirmed Chelsea had been sanctioned for illegally signing 29 players under the age of 18. 

It read: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the English club Chelsea FC and The Football Association for breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

Chelsea have reportedly settled on Zinedine Zidane and Frank Lampard as their favoured successors to Maurizio Sarri.

According to Sky Sports, the pair have already been ‘identified’ as possible replacements for Sarri ‘after internal discussions’.

The broadcaster explains the Chelsea board are ‘very concerned about the team’s recent performances and results’, as well as being ‘aware of the scale of the problems at the club’.

Chelsea are reportedly considering letting Maurizio Sarri make way for ex-Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane.

According to The Sun, which runs the story as an exclusive, Sarri is ‘running out of backers’ at Chelsea, while there is ‘growing support’ for Zidane.

The Frenchman is currently out of work after leaving Real Madrid at the end of last season, and the newspaper explains he is ‘very keen’ on moving to the Premier League.

Maurizio Sarri has apologised for Chelsea’s 6-0 capitulation at the hands of Manchester City and admitted that ‘I don’t know’ what the future holds.

Sarri presided over Chelsea’s heaviest-ever Premier League loss on Sunday, with City scoring four of their goals in the opening half-hour, and the former Napoli boss conceded the Blues were ‘in trouble’.

“In the last three matches away we’ve played very badly so we need to say sorry,” he told BBC Sport.

Maurizio Sarri admits the Chelsea job is harder than he thought but insists ‘we need to lose matches’ and that he is sticking with ‘Plan A’.

Sarri accused his Chelsea players of not adjusting to his ‘Sarri-ball’ style after their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Bournemouth on Tuesday, while the former Napoli boss has faced calls to adopt a ‘Plan B’ when his famed approach is not working.

Chelsea players are reportedly fed up with Maurizio Sarri’s intensive training programme as a video surfaces of a Blues fan confronting the Italian.

According to the Evening Standard, Sarri makes his Chelsea players train on the mornings of evening games.

That was the case before the Blues’ 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Wednesday – their heaviest in the Roman Abramovich era.

Udinese defender Molla Wague has joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the rest of the season.

It marks Wague’s third spell in English football after previous stints with Watford and Leicester City.

The 27-year-old has 28 caps for Mali but has played just three times for Udinese this season.

Forest, meanwhile, are ninth in the EFL Championship, just four points off the playoff places.

Reported Serie A targets Youri Tielemans and Adrien Silva have joined Leicester City and Monaco respectively.

The midfielders were linked with the likes of Milan and Inter earlier in the month, but Tielemans has gone on to sign for Leicester on a dry loan, while Silva has moved to Monaco in the opposite direction.

Watford centre-back Ben Wilmot has reportedly agreed terms for a transfer to Udinese, claim Sky Sport Italia.

The England Under-20 international is only 19 years old and joined Watford from Stevenage in July.

He made six competitive appearances for the Hornets this season.

Udinese and Watford are both owned by the Pozzo family, so regularly exchange players between them.

Udinese are reportedly in talks to sign former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tom Huddlestone.

According to Sky Sports, Huddlestone is negotiating a permanent transfer to Udinese.

The Englishman currently plays for hometown club Derby County in the EFL Championship but is best known for his eight-year spell with Tottenham, where he made more than 200 appearances, winning a League Cup.