Gary Neville has claimed that he is not ‘totally convinced’ with Chelsea’s transfer plan as the London outfit draw closer to having spent £1billion since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over the club in 2022.
The club last week broke the British transfer record, signing Moises Caicedo for £115million from Brighton, while also securing Romeo Lavia from Southampton for £58m.
The Blues have spent big in the transfer window, also signing Christopher Nkunku for £53m, Nicolas Jackson for £32m, Axel Disasi for £38.7m and Robert Sanchez for £25m, taking their total spending since May last year up to a whopping £928m.
That looks like it could also rise to £942m very soon too, with Mail Sport reporting yesterday evening that Mauricio Pochettino’s side have agreed a £14m deal for New England Revolution goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic
It comes as the Blues are closing in on having spent £1bn since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over in the summer of 2022.
Their enormous spending spree has raised eyebrows of many around the world of football, with Neville claiming he thought their transfer strategy was a ‘risk’ and that he was ‘not convinced’ by some of their purchases.
‘I have to say there is an element of risk and an element of seeing into the future to see which of those players, if any becomes a top player,’ the former Manchester United defender told Sky Sports on Monday Night Football.
They’ve basically invested into potential in the hope that their recruitment team know what they’re doing.
‘I’m not wholly convinced i’ll be really honest with you with the plan and the strategy and the eight year contracts, locking them down whether those players are going to go on to deliver what Chelsea need for that investment. We’ll see.’
He added: ‘I mean they’ve spent a billion pounds and it’s a large investment and I still look at them and feel like Mauricio Pochettino will want better players in certain areas, particularly forward areas.
‘Particularly against Liverpool, you can play well but if you haven’t got punch at the top end of the pitch and if you’re a little bit rash a the back end of the pitch – I think they’ve still got a couple of young centre backs – for all your good football you’re not going to see the fruits of that labour.’
Despite drawing 1-1 to Liverpool in the opening round of the 2023-24 Premier League season, Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by 10-man West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
And reflecting on Chelsea’s window so far, Jamie Carragher echoed Neville’s comments also claiming that they’re still lacking in some key areas of the squad, despite their enormous spending.
‘Not that many people are thinking that their squad with that much money spent on it are going to finish in the top four and that doesn’t seem right to me as that is an unbelievable amount of money,’ the former Liverpool defender said.
‘I do feel even though I’ve been really impressed with them in the first two games, but if you said to me how many players do they need to challenge Man City – and I’m not talking about winning the league – I still think they need a goalkeeper, even though they just signed Sanchez.
‘I still think they need a top centre-half because Thiago Silva is 38. I don’t think there is a real out-and-out centre forward
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