September 14th 2023.
Former Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has expressed his disbelief at the state of his old club. Since new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over a little over a year ago, the Blues have spent over £1 billion and yet are languishing in 12th position in the Premier League, both this season and last.
Speaking on The Byline podcast, Begovic said: “If you’re spending £115m on Moises Caicedo, surely you spend £120m on Declan Rice? I don’t know Rice personally, but I think he would have wanted to go to Chelsea. Players like him, they would go to Chelsea in the past; players in their prime.”
The former shot-stopper feels the club’s new approach to recruitment is completely at odds with the trophy-winning history established during Roman Abramovich’s reign. He continued: “I watch football like a mad man and I’m not familiar with half these players! For me it’s odd, the whole thing is very odd. I don’t see the construction of the team, this whole rebuilding transition phase is a bit of an excuse to me.”
Begovic went on to describe Chelsea as a ‘mid-table squad’ that he barely recognises, and believes their decline is summed up by the decision to sign Caicedo rather than compete with Arsenal for Rice. He added: “I remember being with players in the dressing room - world class, world class, world class. Buying from Barcelona, buying from Real Madrid, buying from Bayern Munich. It’s like, we’re buying from Brighton, potential players. And I get you need a part of that, but where is the top world class players?”
The former keeper believes Mauricio Pochettino is on a hiding to nothing at Chelsea, and feels the club’s expensive signings could be better spent elsewhere. He finished by saying: “I’m proud to have been at Chelsea. It’s one of the best locations to play football in the world. Why is Chelsea football club in a transition? This is one of the best.”
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