Chelsea legend Frank Leboeuf is renowned for saying whatever is on his chest – and he has been true to his nature with a frank assessment of the Blues in the transfer window.
Over the summer, it was another frantic summer of activity under BlueCo – with more millions being spent on players such as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Pedro Neto, Joao Felix and Jadon Sancho.
Nevertheless, under new boss Enzo Maresca, they have performed admirably and bounced back from a first-day defeat to Manchester City to now sit fourth in the Premier League.
Ahead of Chelsea’s next test against Liverpool at Anfield, Leboeuf has explained where it went wrong for the Blues in the transfer window.
Exclusively talking GB News via Safest Casino Sites, the former Chelsea defender said: “I’m against the trading business, especially when you’re a club like a Chelsea football club. RB Leipzig is a kind of model they are following.
“It’s what they want to do. They build young players. I was saying with Auxerre in France, for example, where they knew that they were the basket for young players and then to sell them to bigger clubs to get money and keep on doing that.
“But there is a limit to that and Chelsea proved this limit for the past two years. We decided to buy too many young players and not count on the experience of some others.
“The balance between young, talented players and experienced players makes the chemistry of it. It’s how it works. We can see Manchester City have Rico Lewis and Phil Foden.
“They’re very young, but they’re playing in the middle of the park with De Bruyne, Rodri and Grealish, players who already have experience.
“So it’s all about finding the right mix, that’s what will put Chelsea back among the best. If they keep on doing the trading business, it’s not going to work in terms of results.”
Chelsea have made some huge acqusitions since Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali took over – not least their multi-million midfield that nearly cost quarter of a billion.
Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo both joined for fees totalling over £100million each and have had somewhat difficult starts to life at Stamford Bridge.
Leboeuf added: “I think [Maresca]’s very clever. Now it’s going to be how he’ll be able to manage the amount of talent with the amount of players that he has.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea have looked decent so far this season
PA
“That’s going to be his biggest task, because up front with Madueke and Nkunku coming back and Jackson, Sancho and Palmer, it’s going to be hard to make choices and keep the dressing room happy.
“That’s going to be his biggest task. So it’s just the beginning. You have young players, you have talented players with no experience.
Enzo Fernandez has taken on captain duties at Chelsea but is still struggling with his role in the starting XI
PA
“That’s my biggest concern and I’m not sure that either Caicedo or Fernandez are the right people, but for £100 million they have to be right.
“Otherwise financially, Chelsea would have a problem selling them to any other club. So Maresca has to do everything to make sure that those two work well.”