GARY NEVILLE is stunned by Chelsea’s “strange” overspending as he compared Todd Boehly’s “chaotic” spree to that of an infamous Premier League rival.
Manchester United legend Nev singled out two “mad” fees paid amid the Blues’ £600million splash-out since Boehly took over in the summer.
Chelsea boss Graham Potter spent £326m in January alone, notably £107m on British record buy Enzo Fernandez and £88m for Mykhailo Mudryk.
Yet the Blues are only ninth – below South London rivals Brentford and Fulham, as well as ten points adrift of the top four.
Many pundits doubt if any improvement in Potter’s squad matches the amount spent.
And there are also questions about how quickly a new-look team can gel, given that seven senior newcomers arrived last month.
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Above all, Neville is amazed Chelsea paid so much for anchorman Fernandez and £64m left-back Marc Cucurella.
And he believes the spree is similar to the way Ed Woodward tried to buy “everyone” when launching his decade of £900m hit-and-miss buying as Old Trafford executive vice-chairman.
Woodward’s reign included the dubious value derived from £89m midfielder Paul Pogba, £80m centre-back Harry Maguire, £77m winger Jadon Sancho (£77m) and £75m hitman Romelu Lukaku (£75m).
And Nev told Sky Bet’s The Overlap: “It felt like that at Chelsea in the summer. It was chaotic.
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“Marc Cucurella for £64m and Enzo Fernandez for £107m – that’s a full-back and a midfielder who will sit at the base of a three.
“The ceiling on those types of players – like Rodri, Fabinho, Casemiro – they are £50-60m positions.
“These aren’t players that are playing in the forward part of the pitch and scoring you 30 goals, so what they’re paying for the positions, what they’re getting for the money, they just seem like strange transfers.
“I’m not saying the players are no good. They could be really good and could go on to be great. But the fees for players in those positions seem mad to me.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
