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Football London
Football London
Sport
Josh Holland

Frank Leboeuf slams Chelsea for one January transfer decision despite 'useless' verdict

Chelsea's decision to sell Jorginho to Premier League rivals Arsenal in the January transfer window has been slammed by former Blues centre-back Frank Leboeuf.

The Blues suffered their fifth defeat in nine games on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat to Southampton at Stamford Bridge. James Ward-Prowse netted the game's only goal with a superb free-kick late in the first half.

Graham Potter's side were unfortunate not to find themselves level in the second half, with Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz, who both started on the bench, missing a number of clear cut chances. The defeat leaves Chelsea in 10th, 10 points off the top four.

Read more: What Wesley Fofana did amid Chelsea boos as bold Graham Potter plan dramatically backfires

As questions over Potter's future continue to dominate the headlines, the decision to exclude Reece James and Thiago Silva from the matchday squad has also been questioned. Silva has been a mainstay in the Blues backline this term and has arguably been one of their best performers.

And after the game, Leboeuf was critical of the lack of leadership throughout Potter's squad and slammed the decision to allow Jorginho to leave for Arsenal. The Italian was deemed surplus for requirements with his contract running down in west London but he played a pivotal role in Arsenal's dramatic 4-2 win over Aston Villa earlier in the day.

Starting in place of Thomas Partey in Mikel Arteta's midfield, Jorginho struck a sensational strike from outside the area in the 93rd minute against the crossbar and against Emiliano Martinez to hand the Gunners a much-needed win.

"I don't see any players with leadership. They're all 20-21 years old, they have great futures," Lebouef told ESPN. "We saw that today with Jorginho and Arsenal. It's crazy that I have to say that Jorginho was very useless for Chelsea but so useful for Arsenal.

"We have to find leaders in the middle of the park or in the spine, which we don't have at Chelsea. Nobody is a leader."

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