Chelsea sit sixth in the table going into the final five matches of the Premier League, but many remain unconvinced about their methodology since Todd Boehly took over the club three years ago.
The Blues finished 12th in their first season under the BlueCo consortium, before improving to sixth under Mauricio Pochettino last term.
The Argentine departed last summer though, and while Chelsea started this season well under Enzo Maresca, they’re now in a real fight to make the top five and return to the Champions League for the first time in three years.
Why Chelsea are like RB Leipzig
Much of Chelsea’s strategy since Boehly’s arrival has been the recruitment of large numbers of young players, with the aim of improving them and delivering success.
It’s a very different strategy to life under Roman Abramovich, when they often focused on signing players who could allow them to challenge for trophies immediately.
Former Blues defender Frank Leboeuf is one of those who remains doubtful about Chelsea’s current strategy, and whether it will bring the success that the club has been used to for three decades.
“I like the way that Chelsea sometimes play, but you can’t expect too much from them, and it will be like that until the club decides to change their mind on the way they want to see football,” Leboeuf exclusively tells FourFourTwo.
“With this trading situation, buying players and selling them, you cannot expect any results.
“One year it’s going to be OK, but you’re going to lose some players because your players have been good and you’re going to sell them, so then you start from scratch, and that’s what’s going to happen.”
Leboeuf won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as well as two FA Cups and the League Cup during his time at Chelsea, when he also became a world champion with France in 1998.
He joined the club from Strasbourg – coincidentally are also now owned by BlueCo, who have loaned Djordje Petrovic and Andrey Santos from Chelsea this season.
“I have the same problem with Strasbourg,” Leboeuf admits, speaking in association with BetVictor. “They’re seventh in the league, almost on the same points as fourth, but if they do well, Chelsea are going to get those players back or they’re going to sell them, and they’ll have to start from scratch again.
“It’s not an ideal situation, it’s good for the youth but for a club to stabilise itself, it’s complicated.
“When it’s Chelsea, you don’t expect that. You can be OK with it at RB Leipzig because you know that’s what they want to do and they’re going to do that forever.
“Monaco is a bit like that too, you have the young players and you sell them. But it shouldn’t be the same with Chelsea and their history.
“I’m disappointed, I’m sometimes furious as well when I see what I see, because I expect more.”
Chelsea's road to nowhere
Even if Chelsea qualify for the Champions League this season, the ESPN pundit is concerned that he doesn’t see a pathway to consistent success.
“We have debates on ESPN sometimes with Craig Burley, my former team-mate, where we want to know where Chelsea are going,” he says.
“But Chelsea are going nowhere, Chelsea are going for the money and that’s not how I see football.
“If they make the top five in the Premier League and get into the Champions League, what’s going to happen next season? If a club comes for Cole Palmer, Chelsea will want to sell him, if they get crazy money.
“So what’s going to happen next season? They need to strengthen their squad, but they’re not going to strengthen with experienced players, because it’s not part of their system.
“They’ll buy other young players, who are going to take time to settle down. It’s complicated.”
