Arsenal Icon Paul Merson has revealed that Chelsea has been slow in the transfer market and he was shocked at why Chelsea did sign Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City.
Chelsea has been relatively slow in the transfer market this summer. Chelsea had seen three major departures from their squad this summer. Antonio Rudiger joined Real Madrid on a free transfer, Andreas Christensen also signed for Barcelona on a free transfer, and Romelu Lukaku was loaned to Inter Milan after a poor season following his £101 transfer to Chelsea.
Despite Chelsea signing Raheem Sterling and Kaildou Koulibaly this summer, Thomas Tuchel had hinted that Chelsea needs more signings if they want to improve their squad and compete with Manchester City and Liverpool.
The Chelsea manager revealed via The Football daily, He said: “I think we need a couple more players in to improve the squad.
“We have been third last season. We cannot discuss endlessly the reasons, but there was a gap between us and Manchester City and Liverpool and in general, if you want to keep your position, if you want to fight for the same position you need to improve, you can never stand still.
“If you stand still, other teams will overtake you so given the situation that we even lost players, for me, it’s common sense that we need to bring new quality to the team to maintain our level.”
Paul Merson seems to share in Thomas Tuchel’s frustrations claiming that Chelsea had been slow in the transfer window and could come back and hunt them in the course of the season.
What did Paul Merson Say?
The former Arsenal and England playmaker in an interview with the Daily Star said: “I was at Chelsea vs Arsenal the other day in Florida and Chelsea will have to pull up some trees to catch City and Liverpool.
‘It’s plain to see they can’t play a back four. I go a lot and whenever they play it you might as well go home. It’s that extreme.
‘I also don’t like Chelsea’s business, it’s been slow and could come back to haunt them. It’s why Thomas Tuchel is getting so frustrated.
Paul Merson seems shocked that Chelsea did not sign Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City.
Chelsea was also interested in Gabriel Jesus but pulled out of the deal allowing Arsenal to sign the Brazilian international.
Gabriel Jesus had fit well at Arsenal scoring four goals in their pre-season friendlies including one against Chelsea in the Florida Cup finals.
The Tv pundit and former Arsenal attacking midfielder added: “You look at the other side and Arsenal had Gabriel Jesus and you’re scratching your head. How did Arsenal get him?
“The kid is an out-and-out center-forward, he may even outscore Haaland. He was unbelievable the other day, why didn’t Chelsea have a look?
“When I was walking out of the ground, fans were saying ‘it hasn’t started properly yet, wait until the season starts but not what I watched, that was alarming.”
The blues are reported to be interested in Wesley Fofana from Leicester City.
