CHELSEA are in final negotiations to sign Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain, head coach Maurizio Sarri has said.

Higuain scored 36 goals in 35 Serie A games in his one season at Napoli under Sarri.

"They're a few hours into signing a contract today," Sarri said.

Chelsea play Tottenham in Thursday's Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge, bidding to overturn a 1-0 deficit to reach the February 24 final.

Chelsea had until 12noon to register Higuain for the match, but Sarri says "it's impossible" for the Argentina international to feature.

Higuain has been on loan at AC Milan from Juventus this season, scoring just once in his last 12 appearances for the Rossoneri.

"We hope he'll bring goals, he'll start scoring for us," Sarri added.

"It's very difficult in January to find one of the most important strikers in the world. So I think the club is working very well because it's not easy to get a new striker."

Sarri launched an extraordinary criticism of his players following last Saturday's Premier League loss to Arsenal, saying "this group of players are extremely difficult to motivate".

Asked about the response from his players this week, he said: "I think we need to react on the pitch. The rest is nothing.

"We discussed with the players how to try to improve the approach, the motivation, the determination, so we are trying to change something in training, in pre-match, in everything. I think we all have to react on the pitch, of course."