"£1b spent and they’re nowhere near" - Ex-Liverpool star says Chelsea aren't title contenders despite spending spree
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has slammed Chelsea for their exorbitant spending spree in recent windows. The Englishman claims that the Blues will not challenge for the Premier League title this season despite their extravagant transfer activity.
The west London outfit have spent nearly £1 billion since Todd Boehly took over the club last summer.
Chelsea have been extremely active this summer as well, spending more than £200 million. However, Mauricio Pochettino's side are nowhere near the calibre of English champions Manchester City, according to Murphy.
The former Liverpool star said on talkSPORT:
"I was talking on Monday night about the Chelsea scenario, and what they've spent. And I asked the question, give me one Chelsea player that gets into City's team. Because they're trying to win the league, aren't they? They're trying to win the league and the Champions League. Otherwise, what are they doing?"
Murphy added on new Chelsea signing Moises Caicedo:
"He's nowhere near Rodri. He doesn't play instead of Rodri, not in a million years. Doesn't play instead of De Bruyne, doesn't play instead of Bernardo Silva. The only player is maybe Chilwell."
He went on to state:
"And to be honest, if you're playing the way City play, defensively, Akanji has played left back against Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, some of the best wingers in the world, none of them had a kick. If I had a game tomorrow I'd have Akanji. So Chilwell is the only argument."
The Blues finished the 2022-23 campaign in 12th place, displaying dismal form and instability under multiple managers.
"What you should be doing" - Danny Murphy offers transfer advice as he compares Chelsea to Manchester City
Murphy has offered some advice to Chelsea on how to build a squad that can challenge for titles. The Englishman has told the club's hierarchy to emulate Manchester City's recruitment by signing players who have the quality to play for such a side.
The former Liverpool man said:
"Now if you're trying to build a team to win the league, win the Champions League, what you should be doing in recruitment is going 'Who can we get? Let's look at the team that's the best in the world, how they play, and the type of players they've got.' Have you got someone?"
Insisting that Caicedo cannot lace Rodri's boots at the moment, Murphy added:
"So they've gone for Caicedo, fair enough, he could become somebody as effective as Rodri, because he's a super talent. We'll have to wait and see on that one. But he certainly wouldn't be in ahead of Rodri now. So they are nowhere near Man City. And they've spent nearly a billion quid, and they're nowhere near them!"
It was then suggested to the Englishman that Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez could walk into Manchester City's team, to which he responded:
"Instead of whom? Ask him instead of whom. If he's not a holding midfielder, which Enzo himself says he isn't, he did an interview saying he's more of a No. 8. Well he's got to take De Bruyne's place, and he couldn't lace his boot."
The Blues have made a decent start to the 2023-24 campaign in the English top tier. The west London outfit shared the points against Liverpool on Sunday (12 August) after first-half goals from Axel Disasi and Luis Diaz.
However, Chelsea does have ground to cover to close the gap on Arsenal and Manchester City. They also have no chance of lifting a European trophy as they have not qualified for any of the UEFA club competitions.