Arsenal hero takes swipe at Chelsea over Mudryk transfer and warns Pochettino

Alan Smith has slammed Chelsea’s ‘haphazard’ approach in the transfer market and claims they only signed Mykhailo Mudryk to ‘pinch’ him from London rivals Arsenal.

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Chelsea have spent more than £600m on signings over the past 12 months but that is yet to result in success on the pitch, with the Blues finishing in the bottom-half of the Premier League last season.

Ex-Arsenal striker Smith has struggled to see ‘any method’ to Chelsea’s transfer business and says the signing of Mudryk epitomises their ‘scattergun approach’.

The Ukraine forward was expected to join Arsenal in January but Chelsea hijacked the deal, paying Shakhtar Donetsk almost £90m to bring him to Stamford Bridge.

Mudryk became one of the most expensive Premier League signings in history but the 22-year-old struggled last season and is yet to score for Chelsea in 17 appearances.

‘It’s been such a haphazard approach to signing players, it’s been really scattergun,’ Smith told Gambling Zone. ‘I don’t think there was any method to their business last season.

‘The signing of Mudryk is a great example of that. Arsenal was interested and they thought they’d pinch him off their London rivals.

‘Chelsea have collected all these players. It looks like something Pochettino and the club are trying to sort out.

‘Koulibaly came in last summer, now he’s gone. Some of the lads that have come through the ranks, they’ve been moved on and it appears like more of them might be on the way out of the club.

‘Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have left, which is a shame because club’s don’t like to lose academy players that have come through the ranks.

‘They need to get back to more of an organized approach. With so much movement in and out of the team, I think it’s going to be hard for Pochettino.’

Smith also warned Pochettino he faces a ‘really tough job’ at Stamford Bridge after agreeing to become Chelsea’s sixth permanent manager in five years.

‘This is a really tough job for Pochettino,’ Smith added. ‘It would have been tough for him at PSG because of the characters he was working with there.

‘At PSG he had massive stars with big egos who are always difficult to manage, whereas at Tottenham, he had players that worked their socks off for him.

‘He must bring discipline back into the football club in terms of how the players train. In many ways, the club needs to go back to basics to get those standards back.

‘From what I hear, those fell by the wayside last season. He needs to bring that winning culture into the club, which won’t be easy.

‘He would have been made aware of the challenges before taking it on, and I think in many ways, it was too tempting a job to turn down.

‘It will be fascinating to watch what he does next season, but make no mistake, It’s a massive job for him.’

Chelsea, who finished just 12th last season, kick-start their 2023-24 campaign against Liverpool on August 13.

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