FORMER Chelsea defender Emmanuel Petit has slammed the club’s transfer strategy following a £450M spending spree.
The Blues have spent over £450M since a consortium fronted by Todd Boehly took over the club just eight months ago, and former World Cup and Premier League winner Petit has accused the club of “buying players for the sake of it”.
“I think this year is a transition year for them,” Petit told SportingPost.
“The last season was not easy for them. (Roman) Abramovich left and on top of it they allowed key players to run their contracts down and leave for free.
“Can someone explain the strategy of the club to me? I don’t know what Chelsea are trying to achieve by spending so much money with such long contracts.
Embed from Getty Images“Of course they are young players but it’s a big risk to buy so many young players, it’s a gamble.
“I wonder what is going to happen at the end of the season with Chelsea? All of the injured players are going to come back, and Graham Potter is going to have 25 players to manage.
“They have already spent over £450m over six months, what is Potter going to do at the end of the season with all these players?”
Chelsea signed Ukrainian international Mykhaylo Mudryk earlier this month for £88.5m, beating another of Petit’s former clubs, Arsenal, to his signature.
Petit was part of London rivals Arsenal’s invincible season of 2003/04 and he questioned whether Mudryk has made the right move.
“€100m? I didn’t think he was feeling pressure when he came on,” he said.
“But he’s coming into a club that’s losing confidence – I can’t see the strategy at Chelsea.
“It seems when Liverpool or Arsenal are interested in a player, then suddenly Chelsea are making an offer. It’s strange because it suggests there is no strategy.”
