22 August 2023 , 13:37
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Jamie Carragher claims it “doesn’t feel right” that Chelsea are still a minimum of four players away from challenging Manchester City despite their near £1billion spend under Todd Boehly.
The Blues have spent record amounts since the American’s arrival at Stamford Bridge. During that time, Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Enzo Fernandez from Portuguese giants Benfica.
That has continued this summer with a further £350m being spent. Boehly once again broke the British transfer record to seal the services of midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton - beating Premier League rivals Liverpool to his signature in the process.
Despite that, Carragher still does not believe that Chelsea are anywhere near contenders for the title, something doesn’t sit right with the former defender. Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “I do feel when you spend that amount of money, it does feel strange when we’re all asked before the start of the season, not many people are putting Chelsea in the top four.
“We’re not all top tipsters, we know that, we know when the results come out. It doesn’t mean they won’t finish there but not many people are thinking that squad with that much money spent on it will finish in the top four. That doesn’t seem right to me because that is an unbelievable amount of money.
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“And I do feel, even though we were really impressed with them the first two games, if you said to me ‘how many players do they need to challenge Manchester City, I’m not speaking about winning the league?’
Chelsea have twice broken the British transfer record since Todd Boehly's arrival (Getty Images)Where do you think Chelsea will finish in the Premier League this season? Share your thoughts in the comments below
“I still think they need a goalkeeper, even though they just signed Sanchez. They probably still need a top centre-half because Thiago Silva’s 38. I don’t think there’s a real out and out goalscorer. Your goalscorer doesn’t have to be your centre-forward, Liverpool’s is Salah who plays on the right-wing so it’s not a dig at Jackson.
“But you think of those really important decisions, it still feels as though four players would have to go into that team to get them to just challenge Manchester City and that doesn’t feel right considering the amount of money that they’ve spent.”
Chelsea will be aiming to improve on their 12th-placed finish last term. The Blues endured a rotten season last term with Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard all being at the helm.
They have already had somewhat of a difficult start to the new campaign. Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw with Liverpool on the opening day.
They followed that up with a 3-1 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium. New boss Mauricio Pochettino will be aiming to secure his side’s first win of the season against Luton this weekend.