Jamie Carragher has launched a stinging attack on Chelsea’s transfer policy after they agreed a deal to sign Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.
On Monday Night Football, Carragher and Gary Neville debated Chelsea’s transfer policy after it was reported that they had agreed a deal to buy Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.
The arrival of the Portugal international, who has already had one loan spell at the club, will take their number of summer additions to 10, having already signed Pedro Neto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jorgensen, Omari Kellyman, Aaron Anselmino, Renato Vega, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioy
Viral pictures over the weekend showed a packed training gym, as players went through their paces. At time of writing, the club list 33 players in their first-team squad, meaning 10 will miss out every matchday. Raheem Sterling was a casualty at the weekend against Manchester City and is now seeking “clarity” over his future at the club.
Carragher said on MNF: “Chelsea have just got to stop buying players and players have got to stop signing for Chelsea. I don’t know why, if I was a player, why would you sign (for Chelsea)? The only reason why you would sign is because someone might say, your agent might say, ‘we’re getting a seven-year deal on big money, that’s guaranteed money for seven years’. You know what I would say? Back yourself as a player. Sign a four-year deal at a proper club and back yourself to do well, and then when you’re due for a renewal, your money goes up anyway. I don’t understand why players are signing seven-year deals.”
Asked if there is an explanation in Chelsea building an exciting, young project, Carragher scoffed: “Part of what? There isn’t anything there! It’s not a young and exciting team. They’ve bought Joao Felix, right, tell me where he’s going to play. They signed Neto a week ago, where’s he going to play when you’ve already got Cole Palmer? Where would you play Enzo Fernandez, a £100m player who plays as a No.10? Where would you play Nkunku? What I’m saying is, great football teams need competition, but in every team I played in there were seven or eight players who knew they were playing every week, and then you’ve got six or seven players fighting for three positions, and then you’ve got another six or seven in the squad who know they’re squad players. That is a healthy squad. What Chelsea have got right now, you’re asking where Joao Felix is going to play, where’s he going to get changed at the training ground?! I’m deadly serious. If you’ve got 40 players, how are they all in one dressing room? How are you putting a training session on?”
Chelsea will hope to complete the signing of Felix soon, as they play Servette in a Europa Conference League qualifying play-off on Thursday, before facing Wolves in the Premier League.
