CHELSEA legend Franck Leboeuf has named FIVE players he believes Mauricio Pochettino should look to sign in January.
The Blues’ Argentine boss has endured a rocky start to life at Stamford Bridge.
The 51-year-old has only managed to secure one win and two draws from their opening six Premier League matches.
That is despite owner Todd Boehly and Clearlake splashing out over £1BILLION on players over the past year.
Supporters, who have no European football to look forward to this term, were provided with a glimmer of hope of some silverware last night when summer signing Nicolas Jackson secured them victory over Brighton in the Carabao Cup.
However, former Chelsea defender Leboeuf, who won two FA Cups, a League Cup and the Uefa Cup and Super Cup during his five years at the club, believes Poch still needs a lot more to get them back on top.
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The French 1998 World Cup winner told Casinos En Ligne: “Chelsea need a striker and an experienced midfielder.
“I said last season that [Aleksandr] Mitrovic would be good – he’s not world-class, but he’s a leader and a fighter.
“Victor Osimhen is having problems at Napoli, and maybe Chelsea can go for him in January.
“There’s also Nantes’ Mostafa Mohamed – I think he could do a good job.
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“Chelsea also need help in midfield, someone like Toni Kroos or Luka Modric. They may be older and not play as many games, but they could definitely serve the club well.”
The prospect of any of the above arriving in West London appear to be slim due to a mix of reasons.
Mitrovic left neighbours Fulham for Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal in a £46m move last month.
And Boehly’s transfer strategy has been to target younger players that should have a large resale value rather than veterans.
That would likely rule out Real Madrid’s experienced midfield duo Kroos, 33, and Modric, 38.
Nantes Egyptian forward Mohamed, 25, would fit the bill and has four goals in five Ligue 1 matches this term.
Meanwhile, they have been linked with Napoli ace Osimhen for months, and this week’s social media scandal could help them in that pursuit.
The Nigerian star, 24, refused to celebrate after scoring in last night’s 4-1 win over Udinese.
The hotshot also opted against taking a penalty after being mocked by the Italian club’s TikTok account.
Napoli’s official TikTok page shared a video mocking the forward for missing a spot kick in their 0-0 draw with Bologna on Sunday.
The now deleted clip enraged Osimhen and the rest of the squad – and that appeared to lead to him deciding against taking a pen yesterday as he handed over spot-kick duties to Piotr Zielinski, who made no mistake to put the Gli Azzurri 1-0 up.
Another now-deleted post reportedly saw the club release a video featuring a cropped photo of Osimhen’s head on a coconut with audio over the clip saying: “I’m a coconut.”
It’s widely viewed as a racial slur.
Osimhen’s agent, Robert Calenda, wrote on X on Monday: “What happened today on Napoli’s official profile on the TikTok platform is not acceptable.
“A video mocking Victor was first made public and then, but now belatedly, deleted.
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“A serious fact that causes very serious damage to the player. And adds to the treatment that the boy is suffering in the last period between media trials and fake news.”
He then added: “We reserve the right to take legal action and any useful initiative to protect Victor.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
