Joe Cole and Owen Hargreaves have warned Todd Boehly that he has a 'big job' on his hands in the summer. Chelsea spent over £300million in the January transfer window, completing deals for eight players.
Enzo Fernandez penned a deal with the west Londoners on deadline day for a club-record fee, following Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Andrey Santos to Stamford Bridge, with Malo Gusto arriving at the end of the season. Joao Felix also joined on loan from Atletico Madrid.
However, while Chelsea may have welcomed some exciting names to the club, they've so far failed to offload any in return, leaving Graham Potter's squad rather bloated. In fact, the Blues' roster is so large that at any given time there could be at least 30 first-team players in all vying for a place in the starting line-up.
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Speaking on BT Sport ahead of Chelsea's clash with Borussia Dortmund, Cole explained how hard a job Potter has when picking his XI — not just from a tactical perspective but from a man-management perspective too.
The former Blues midfielder said: "Football’s hard to pick a team but what you have to remember in football is it’s the only job in the world where you sack people on a Friday and you have to re-employ them on a Monday.
"You effectively have to say to 12 lads there, 'thanks guys, have a great weekend, we’re back at it on Monday'. It’s really hard to take when you’re a professional.
"But when you’re an elite professional like what these guys are, that’s why it’s often better to have a squad where you’re littered with a few youngsters, players coming down who are happy to play 20, 25 [games]. Chelsea have got a big job in the summer balancing this up."
Singing from the same hymn sheet, Hargreaves encouraged Boehly to follow the template which Arsenal have found so successful in recent times. The former Manchester United midfielder said: "I don’t think this is Graham’s problem, by the way, this is the club’s.
"If you look at Arsenal you know who is going to play pretty much every game, City, Liverpool, United, you know who’s going to be in that starting XI, give or take one or two.
"Graham has inherited a group of players and even for him it is going to take time to find out what is his core. What is his core, and then whoever is not going to be in there they have to sell them in the summer."
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