Jamie Carragher has risked incurring the wrath of Chelsea fans after the Liverpool legend claimed the club has not made any progress under Todd Boehly’s ownership.
The Blues returned to the Champions League on Wednesday night after two seasons out of Europe’s premier competition, despite spending approximately £1.5billion on transfers in that time.
When BlueCo – the consortium headed by US businessman Boehly – arrived at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were considered one of Europe’s strongest teams, having won the Champions League just 12 months prior to the takeover.
Chelsea’s subsequent slide has inevitably led to debate over their significant transfer outlay – although under Enzo Maresca the Blues have shown promising signs having won the Conference League and Club World Cup last season.
Yet Carragher refused to accept that the new-look Chelsea has been a success.
‘There’s no right or wrong way going about running a football club and trying to be successful; it doesn’t matter about the system,’ Carragher told CBS Sport.
Jamie Carragher has risked the wrath of Chelsea fans by giving a brutally honest assessment of the club’s progress under Todd Boehly
Carragher described Chelsea’s two competition triumphs last season as Mickey Mouse cups
‘The point I’m trying to make is we can’t pretend that this has been a success so far after three-and-a-half years.
‘They came into a club and the manager was Thomas Tuchel, he’d won the Champions League at that club, at that stage under Thomas Tuchel, Manchester City and Liverpool were possibly the best two teams in world football, alongside Real Madrid, so it was very difficult for anybody to win the Premier League, but Chelsea were the third best team. It wasn’t Manchester United, it wasn’t Arsenal, it was Chelsea.
‘They then change that manager, they then take a team who were very close to competing and winning trophies like they did the Champions League, and they go and spend £2 billion.
‘They are no closer, they are further away than what that manager was doing three-and-a-half years ago in terms of competing with the top teams in the Premier League, they are further away having spent two billion pounds.’
Carragher’s fellow pundit Micah Richards took issue with his colleague’s analysis.
‘But there’s been progress, hasn’t there? If you finish in the league in his first season, 12th, and then you finish sixth, and then you finish fourth, and then you win the Club World Cup.
‘We’re talking about where they are now, yes, he has spent a lot of money, but there has been progress. They beat the best team in Europe in PSG. They did ever so well, I’m not saying Chelsea are going to win the Premier League, but you can see progress.’
Carragher replied: ‘Let’s not forget where Chelsea have come from, Chelsea are a winning machine.’
Richards refused to back down: ‘Man United have been a winning machine, Man United in this period of the last six or seven years have spent an awful lot of money. Man United have finished 15th, 16th, 17th last year, no where near the Champions League, so if you go back and say 12th, progress…
‘You mention a way of doing it, at this moment in time Man City and Arsenal and Liverpool have got a better squad than Chelsea. You talk about doing something, you’re insinuating that they’re doing something wrong.
‘I think it’s very clever the way that Chelsea have done their business.’
‘I don’t think there squad is as good I’m talking about in the Premier League, I think they could buy more quality rather than quantity. But Joao Pedro has been a good signing, Gittens did well at Dortmund.
‘And if you’re looking at what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to buy young players. Man City have waited too long before they can sell anyone, Chelsea are very good at selling on an asset, because they buy them young, they’ve still got value and look at the fees, Madueke, $66.6 million (£48.8m).
Carragher compared Chelsea significant transfer outlay with their success on the pitch
‘I just think Chelsea are going about it in a different way, whether we agree with it or not.’
The pair then engaged in a back-and-forth exchange.
Carragher: ‘Are Chelsea here to transfer players or to win trophies?
Richards: ‘But they won two trophies last year.’
Carragher: ‘A Micky Mouse trophy.’
Richards: ‘The Club World Cup? They’ve just beaten PSG, European Champions.’
Carragher: ‘You’ve just said they haven’t got a squad better than the other teams in the Premier League. How is that possible when you’ve spent £2 billion on a squad?’
