William Gallas hit out at Chelsea for their "ridiculous" transfer strategy as he believes Enzo Maresca could be sacked by Christmas.
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Chelsea had disappointing results in pre-seasonPressure building on Maresca to deliverGallas not impressed with summer signingsWHAT HAPPENED?
The Blues lured Maresca from Leicester City after showing the door to Mauricio Pochettino to usher in a new dawn at Stamford Bridge. However, if the pre-season results are anything to go by, then Maresca has a lot to do to turn around the fortunes of the London club.
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A late strike from Lesley Ugochukwu helped Maresca escape with a draw against League One side Wrexham in their first pre-season encounter. In their next game, they succumbed to a 4-1 defeat to Celtic which set the alarm bells ringing back in the UK. However, a 3-0 win over Club America, thanks to two goals from the spot, helped Maresca salvage some pride.
WHAT GALLAS SAID
Reflecting on the results in pre-season, Gallas in an interview with said: "Even though it’s preseason, I’m concerned about Chelsea and I’m concerned when I look at the squad. Despite all the money they’ve spent, the squad still isn’t good enough to qualify for the Champions League, they have so many players and they still need more quality.”
When asked if Maresca would survive until Christmas, he added: "Anything can happen in football. I hope to see him stay until at least the end of the season and get that opportunity to show what he can do but it’s always going to be the same problem, if he doesn’t have the right players and team to compete in the Premier League then it will be incredibly difficult for him.
“Not just with Chelsea but all Premier League owners, they have no patience anymore. Maybe Arsenal did with Mikel Arteta and Manchester United are with Erik ten Hag, but most aren’t thinking about the long term. Managers now come in for six months or a year, I hope that Chelsea move away from that and stick with Maresca for the long term. His future all depends on the target of the manager and if they are happy with the top four or the top six, I think they will only change their manager if they find themselves in 15th place at the turn of the year. Otherwise, he’ll stay.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Gallas further hit out at Chelsea's transfer strategy amid reports they are looking to bring in another goalkeeper, having opened talks to sign Genk's Mike Penders despite already announcing the arrival of Filip Jorgensen.
He added: "I’m speechless. What can I say about Chelsea signing another goalkeeper, why are they doing it? What for? Why do they think they need another goalkeeper? It's ridiculous, they have spent so much money and are still spending more. It’s sending a message to their current goalkeepers that they aren’t good enough. Chelsea should be looking at experienced defenders and a striker, that’s what they need to focus on.”
Gallas further hit out at Chelsea's think tank and added: "Who is to blame? It will always be the same answer. It’s whoever is involved in recruitment, the players they keep bringing in are not good enough. They spend all this money and there isn’t enough quality or experience. The players are too young and it’s a huge problem, but the problem isn’t down to the players, the problem is whoever is bringing them in. It’s the owner who is putting his hand into his pocket but others are giving him the information, they’ve spent too much on the wrong players and now they are looking at goalkeepers. It’s a huge mess at Chelsea, a huge mess.”