Chelsea accused of downgrading in two key positions despite £500m spend: ‘I can’t make any sense of it’

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic is concerned that the club have downgraded in two key positions in the team despite a huge transfer window spend under Todd Boehly again.

The Stamford Bridge outfit have splashed out almost £500million on new additions this summer in what has been a major overhaul to Mauricio Pochettino’s first-team squad.

That outlay has not yet produced on the pitch though, with Chelsea only collecting four points from their opening four games.

Their only win so far was against newly promoted Luton, while their last game before the international break culminated in a shock home loss to Nottingham Forest.

Although plenty of money has been spent on Pochettino’s midfield and forward line. Begovic believes his old position has been neglected.

Champions League-winning stopper Edouard Mendy and the club’s one-time record signing Kepa Arrizabalaga have both been moved on over the summer, although the latter is only on loan at Real Madrid.

However, Begovic feels that both keepers are better than the man who replaced them as the club’s new No.1 Robert Sanchez, while Djordje Petrovic was signed as back-up.

“I’m not against anyone but I look at the goalkeeper position, [Edouard] Mendy and Kepa [Arrizabalaga] leave the football club, say what you want about them but they’ve been replaced by Djordje Petrovic and Robert Sanchez,” said, Begovic, who spent two years at Chelsea, when speaking to The Byline.

“I don’t want to reminisce, but do you remember the days when it was Petr Cech and then Thibaut Courtois?

“And then it was £70m on Kepa, rightly or wrongly. But it’s not projects. If you’re buying the best players you have to buy.”

READ MORE: The 2023-24 Premier League squad lists for every club in full

Chelsea also missing an elite striker

Begovic also feels that Chelsea should have signed an elite central striker, especially when money was seemingly no object and Harry Kane left Tottenham for Bayern Munich for an initial £86m.

He added: “Like Bayern Munich needed a number nine, they went out and got Harry Kane, £100m, thank you very much.

“The whole thing, I can’t for the life of me make any sense of it.”

The Blues are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they to Bournemouth in the Premier League.

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