Enzo Maresca revealed Chelsea are preparing to splash the cash in January on incomings to close the gap to Arsenal and Manchester City.
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Chelsea forked out £219m on transfersThe Blues are gearing up for more signingsMaresca believes Arsenal & City still have better squadsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
The Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital consortium have spurlged since they took over and the Blues have emerged as the top-spenders on three occasions in the last four transfer windows. It is understood that they spent nearly $1.3 billion (£1b) on 39 players across five transfer windows with £219m spent this summer alone.
AdvertisementGOALTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Maresca brought in 11 players this summer including Jadon Sancho, thanks to a last-minute loan deal from Manchester United. However, the coach was prudent enough to let go of several stars as well to raise over £150m ($199.6m). Although it was often suggested that the Chelsea first team has close to 40 players, the official squad photo released on Friday saw the manager sharing the frame with 29 players.
WHAT MARESCA SAID
Despite intense activity over several transfer windows, Maresca still feels that his squad is lagging behind the likes of Arsenal and City, which would force them to spend more in January.
"I think we are a very good squad but there are clubs like Manchester City and Arsenal that are ahead of us, no doubt," he opined. "Hopefully (if) we progress and (keep) improving, we can slowly, slowly be close to them. But I think it is quite clear that at this moment Arsenal and Manchester City are ahead of the rest. Like I have said, the reason why is one club is nine years with the same manager (Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016), and the other (Mikel Arteta at Arsenal) is five years. The rest of the clubs…is a short time.”
When asked if Chelsea could bring in more players in January, Maresca said: "The target after the last summer (window) is to try to do less things but more specific. This is the target for January and next summer. Hopefully, it can be like this.”
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR CHELSEA?
Chelsea are reportedly planning to get rid of Mykhailo Mudryk in January which could pave the way for another forward walking into Stamford Bridge. The Ukraine international has clocked just 61 minutes in the Premier League and with Sancho hitting the ground running, opportunities are likely to be limited for Mudryk. The Blues return to action on Saturday against West Ham.