Former England midfielder Danny Murphy has questioned Chelsea’s ‘strange’ decision to allow experienced players like Thiago Silva, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic leave in recent years.
Chelsea have spent in excess of £1.5billion on new signings since Todd Boehly’s takeover in 2022, but the club have only finished as high as sixth in the Premier League in the intervening years.
The Blues have gone trophyless in all competitions since the memorable Champions League title they won under Thomas Tuchel at the end of the 2020/21 season.
This season a drastic decline in form has seen Chelsea drop to fifth in the table and a section of the fanbase joined outside Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night to vent their frustrations at Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
Chants of, ‘We want our Chelsea back’, and , ‘Boehly, you’re a c***’, could be heard during the protest, while some supporters voiced their support of the club’s former owner Roman Abramovich.
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And despite the fortunes that have been spent under Boehly, questions continue to be asked about the club’s insistence on splashing out on young talent with potential over players for the here and now.
‘It’s the guys they’ve brought in that are doing the recruitment. Maresca isn’t doing the recruitment,’ ex-Liverpool and Tottenham star Murphy said during a talkSPORT discussion about the protest.
‘Somebody has made a decision at Chelsea to go a way that nobody has ever gone before and expect success.
‘They have overspent on talent and potential and they got rid of any experience in players like Thiago Silva, Jorginho, Kovacic.
‘Kovacic left there and won the league with City. He played nearly all their games the season afterwards! It’s strange.’
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Silva, the most recent of the trio to leave, completed a switch to boyhood club Fluminense at the end of last season on a free transfer.
Jorginho and Kovacic both left Stamford Bridge in 2023 and have gone on to enjoy success with Chelsea’s direct rivals in Arsenal and Manchester City respectively.
By allowing the likes of Silva, Jorginho and Kovacic to move on, the amount of experience within Chelsea’s squad has dropped significantly and the club’s average age of 23.5 is the lowest in the Premier League this season.
West Ham’s average age of 27.9 is currently the highest of all teams competing in the English top flight.
Chelsea’s injury woes have meant Maresca has been forced to rely on Chelsea’s young talent in recent weeks and the Italian handed four academy stars minutes in the club’s recent win over Southampton.
‘There were probably too many young players at the end! But it’s nice to see,’ the Chelsea head coach told reporters after the 4-0 victory.
‘It was also the game a little bit that we can give young players a chance to get some minutes.
‘But for sure, Chelsea’s academy has always been a good one so we already have many players like Levi [Colwill] who is there and in the future we can have more.’
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