Manchester United legend Gary Neville has aimed a fresh dig at Chelsea owner and acting Chairman Todd Boehly claiming he is acting like he is playing a Football manager.
Chelsea has had a mixed transfer business despite signing Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, and a £20 million youngster Carney Chukwuekmeka from Aston Villa. Chelsea is also closing in on Marc Cucurella from Brighton. The Blues has also seen their first £ 60 million bid for Wesley Fofana rejected.
Thomas Tuchel in his last interview seems not happy being happy with Chelsea’s current transfer business and indicated that Chelsea did more signings if they want to improve their squad and compete with Manchester City and Liverpool.
There are reports that Chelsea has expressed interest in signing Manchester United transfer target Frenkie de Jong but Gary Neville claims Todd Boehly is panicking and lacks a clear transfer plan.
What did Gary Neville say?
Speaking on the Overlap podcast via Skyport, The former Manchester United Ace said: “The American guy [Todd] Boehly, looks like he wants to play football manager.
“He’s wandering around a little bit and they’re a bit panicky now. You’re seeing that they’re in for De Jong this morning and it feels like he has to do something, that pressure is on him.
“He wouldn’t have had that pressure if he’d have kept the people that have been there before and just let them operate for a year or two, but it’ll be an interesting season for Chelsea.
“Obviously, they’ve lost a few defenders as well. They might even lose more to Barcelona.
“I mean, look, let’s be clear, firstly – they’re [Chelsea] reacting to what’s available and what other clubs are doing.
“Secondly, you hear his [Todd Boehly] name too much and he’s too prominent. You look at what Manchester City and Liverpool are doing, [Txiki] Begiristain at City is their sporting director. Some people might not even know that.
“Some people do know that, but some people never even hear him, never even see him but they get their business done quickly and efficiently.
“When clubs are working well, you don’t hear who’s signing the players, you just sign them. Chelsea has got that sort of, Manchester United under The Glazers, Ed Woodward, “I’m taking over, I’m the man now, I’m going to go out and basically buy the players” and then they’re linked with every player that Barcelona wants, every player that City want, every player that United want.
“They’re almost like bouncing around because it feels like he [Todd Boehly] has to do something. I’m hearing his name too much.
“It feels like, it’s not to be disrespectful, you know he’s a prominent guy, he’s just bought the club and everything.
“He’s fronted a fund that’s paid two and a half billion quid, but to get rid of all that football operation that’s been unbelievable for that many years and come in and do it yourself, it does feel like Ed Woodward that to me. We’ll see it develop.”
Jamie Carragher seems to share the same opinion with Gary Neville and references their pursuit of Marc Cucurella as an example.
The former Liverpool defender said: “I think the way most football clubs are run now, it’s a lot more organized, a lot more sort of, you know, who you want, it’s not sort of these panic things that used to happen in the past and people just go buy and you’d look at it.
“I look at a couple of things Chelsea does and I’m just thinking, is it a panic because you haven’t bought someone and you’ve got to get someone?
“You bought Ben Chilwell for £50m and then you’re trying to get another left back like you didn’t want them a month ago, you want them now.”
There are reports yesterday that Chelsea has expressed interest in Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.
