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It’ll take Chelsea years to recover from Boehly’s mistake – Gary Neville


Manchester United legend, Gary Neville, has insisted that it could take Chelsea a few years to recover from their co-owner Todd Boehly’s first transfer window in charge of the club.

A consortium led by Boehly completed a £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea in May this year.

Chelsea was formerly owned by Roman Abramovich, but the Russian billionaire put it up for sale after being sanctioned by the British government over his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Boehly wasted no time in settling into his new role as he sacked former manager Thomas Tuchel and replaced the German with Graham Potter earlier in the season,

The American billionaire also oversaw a £250million spending spree last summer.

He brought in nine new signings, including £50m forward Raheem Sterling, £70m defender Wesley Fofana, £62m defender Marc Cucurella, and £34m defender Kalidou Koulibaly.

However, Neville believes Chelsea’s approach during the summer window under the leadership of Boehly was ‘crass’ and a mistake.

“Are we going to speak about Chelsea? Todd Boehly’s project, we have to speak about Chelsea,” Neville told Sky Sports podcast.

“I got battered by Chelsea fans at the start of the season, but I am not surprised by what is happening to Chelsea.

“This has got all the hallmarks of a project that will take time. If you look at what happened at the start of the season, there is no doubt that it was handled with crassness, the way in which the transfer window was being handled.

“That transfer window could take Chelsea a couple of years to recover from if they don’t get it right.

“Graham Potter is under big pressure, I hope he is not and they see it through because this is a culmination of the difficulties of Roman Abramovich leaving, the new owner coming in and sticking his chest out and going around Europe thinking he can play Football Manager.”

He added, “I think they will improve, but there are obvious question marks because they are a club like Manchester United where I wonder where the £250m has gone.

“It is a quarter of a billion quid, where is it gone, how have they enhanced the squad? There are a lot of questions for Chelsea.”

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