Jamie Carragher was critical of Chelsea’s transfer business on Monday Night Football, claiming the Blues still needed four players to stand a chance of catching Manchester City in the title race.
Todd Boehly has spent £1bn on players since taking over the Blues in the summer of 2022, but Chelsea finished outside of the top-half last season while being 11th in the table this campaign, so recruitment hasn’t paid off just yet.
Carragher didn’t mince his words, saying: “The goalkeeper is not good enough, the centre-forward is not good enough, they need a centre-back and probably another midfield player.”
Carragher ignorant of Chelsea’s injury crisis
Chelsea aren’t short of centre-backs with Wesley Fofana, Benoît Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Axel Disasi, Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah, but Fofana, Badiashile and Chalobah are currently sidelined with injury.
They aren’t short of midfielders either with Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu, Conor Gallagher and Carney Chukwuemeka, but Caicedo and Lavia are both out of action.
Carragher’s criticism of Robert Sanchez is odd too, considering his stats this season paint the picture of a solid goalkeeper. The 25-year-old concedes only 0.86 goals per Premier League game, boasts three clean sheets, has a save percentage of 80%, and is outperforming his expected goals conceded by 2.1.
Chelsea are actually in better form right now
Chelsea are having a difficult start to the season, but Carragher has ignored all the injuries they’ve suffered and what effect that will have on a side. His his criticism of Sanchez seems out of place considering his save percentage puts him second in the league among goalkeepers.
Chelsea are coming off the back of consecutive wins and clean sheets, so they’re enjoying their best form of the season. Carragher is right to say recruitment hasn’t been perfect since Boehly took over the club, but injuries are why the squad appears to be bereft of defenders and midfielders currently.
The Blues should be a different animal when Fofana, Badiashile, Caicedo and Lavia return.
In other news, here’s every Chelsea player currently injured or suspended
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