BLUE WON'T BE THE COLOUR THIS YEAR

Chelsea throwing everything at success but tough to see them as real contenders

- camondunphy

IT WAS a moment very early on in the 2023/24 season that told us a lot about Chelsea as a football club.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino was on press conference duty following his team's win over Luton Town at Stamford Bridge in August.

At one stage, a reporter asked him about central defender Malang Sarr.

Pochettino's response was a startled 'who?

Three years earlier, Sarr joined Chelsea from Nice but he only ever played eight times for the club.

He'd been on loan at Porto and Monaco, returning from the latter to west London in the summer of 2023.

But there were so many ins and outs at Chelsea that Pochettino seemed unaware of his existence.

Sarr, who is now at Lens, was paid a reported €140,000 a week by Chelsea, twice what Liverpool were paying Ibou Konate at the time.

Konate, though, was a regular with the Reds.

Sarr was so far down the pecking order at Chelsea that he didn't make their Premier League squad for the 2023/24 season.

But he had two years left on his contract and they were still paying him silly money to kick his heels.

That sums up how Chelsea operate since Todd Boehly bought the club.

He has signed over 50 players in just three years and there have been a huge amount of outgoings too.

It's only two years since Pochettino was wondering who the hell Malang Sarr is and, since then, Chelsea have brought in another 30 players.

Now, a lot of these players are top quality.

To me, Moises Caicedo is their main man.