Former Chelsea player Frank Leboeuf believes the outcome of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final only served to prove that the club’s owners are in it for the wrong reasons.
Chelsea have been widely mocked for losing to Liverpool at Wembley after the Anfield club ended the final with several academy players on the pitch owing to a spate of injuries to first-team regulars.
And Leboeuf believes Chelsea’s approach to transfers is to blame for their struggles.
Leboeuf says Blues should have signed Maddison and Ward-Prowse
Speaking to BetVictor, Leboeuf said: “I don’t understand what the owners at the club are doing. Why did Chelsea let James Maddison go to Tottenham last summer?
“Why did they let James Ward-Prowse go to West Ham? Why are they not at Chelsea? These players didn’t cost a lot but they’ve brought a lot to their teams.
“Chelsea had these options in the transfer market but now we all know that these kinds of players weren’t in their thoughts, they just want to sign young, talented players on long contracts because they want to make money.
“They don’t want results – and we saw the consequences of this in the defeat to Liverpool on Sunday…”
This just shows why buying exclusively younger players for squillions of pounds might not be a sensible strategy when you want instant returns.Players aged 23 or under used in finalLiverpool – 7Chelsea – 8Cost of signing those players:Liverpool – £38mChelsea – £390m https://t.co/XjvVU91EdA
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) February 26, 2024
Leboeuf added that he doesn’t think sacking Pochettino would bring about a change in fortunes on the pitch.
Chelsea currently find themselves in the bottom half of the Premier League table, 17 points off the top four.
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“I don’t believe that it would be a good thing for Chelsea to get rid of Pochettino,” Leboeuf added.
“Chelsea have changed the coach because of poor results for a few years now, but the fact is that they don’t have the players to produce results right now.
“The owners bet on the training, infrastructure and future of Chelsea but they still want immediate results, are you kidding me? It doesn’t work like that.
“When Pochettino signed I didn’t expect anything from him and if they go and bring in another coach then everything will just start from scratch again.
“There will be all of the same problems. Pochettino has started to make his mark, there are clear improvements, just let him work!
“He will do good things at Chelsea but the results are not just on him because responsibility also lies with the players. Right now, Chelsea don’t have a good enough squad to blame the manager for a lack of results.
“They have lots of talented players but they don’t have a team. It is going to take a while and bringing in a new manager will only take the club backwards.”