Gary Neville claims Chelsea overspent for two 'strange' signings

Gary Neville believes Chelsea overspent for Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella and has questioned Todd Boehly’s ‘strange’ approach in the transfer market.

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American businessman Boehly has spent almost £600m on new signings since buying Chelsea from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich last year.

Neville believes Boehly’s strategy has been ‘chaotic’ and similar to when Ed Woodward came in at Manchester United and tried to sign ‘everyone’.

The ex-England defender insists Chelsea have signed some talented players over the past two transfer windows but claims they overspent for Argentine midfielder Fernandez and Spanish left-back Cucurella.

Chelsea spent £64m to sign Cucurella from Brighton last summer, while they made Fernandez the most expensive signing in Premier League history in a £107m deal from Benfica in January.

‘To me, Todd Boehly smacks of Ed Woodward when he first came to Manchester United and wanted to sign everyone,’ Neville said on Sky Bet’s The Overlap. ‘It felt like that at Chelsea in the summer and it was chaotic.

‘Marc Cucurella for £64m and Enzo Fernandez for £107m – that’s a full-back and a midfielder who will sit at the base of a three.

‘The ceiling on those types of players – like Rodri, Fabinho, Casemiro – they are £50-60m positions.

‘These aren’t players that are playing in the forward part of the pitch and scoring you 30 goals, so what they’re paying for the positions, what they’re getting for the money, they just seem like strange transfers.

‘I’m not saying the players are no good. They could be really good and could go on to be great. But the fees for players in those positions seem mad to me.’

Despite the sensational spending at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are just ninth in the Premier League, 10 points outside the Champions League places.

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has warned the Blues that ‘spending money doesn’t guarantee success’ and says Graham Potter will already be fearing for his job.

Chelsea appointed ex-Brighton boss Potter as their new manager in September after Boehly sacked Thomas Tuchel, who had won the Champions League in 2021.

‘Spending this money hasn’t made Chelsea better yet, just look at where they are in the league,’ Carragher said. ‘Spending money doesn’t guarantee success.

‘Manchester City have spent an awful lot of money but have had great expertise with different managers.

‘Manchester United is a great example of this from the other side of it – you look at their spending over the last ten years, there’s not much of a difference between themselves and Man City.

‘With Chelsea, from Graham Potter’s point of view he must be thinking: “what is going on here?”

‘You can dress it up like he’s delighted with a big squad and having all these great players coming in, but he’ll be worried for this job.’

Chelsea continue their Premier League campaign on Saturday with a trip to east London to face David Moyes’ West Ham.

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