Paul Merson says Marc Cucurella and two more new arrivals to Chelsea have not made the impact expected of them.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Merson mentioned Cucurella, Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly’s curious start to life at Stamford Bridge.
The three players were part of a massive overhaul in the summer, that also included the signings of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wesley Fofana and Denis Zakaria.
Todd Boehly spent £278m on building what was Thomas Tuchel’s squad.
Cucurella yet to make a case for himself
A large chunk of that budget went towards acquiring Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion for £60m .
The Spanish defender certainly impressed during his singular season by the South Coast.
But his expensive move to Chelsea caused a few eyebrows to raise in surprise.
Those brows were right to be raised, due to the inconsistent and generally unconvincing displays from the full-back.
He, along with Sterling, Koulibaly and pretty much all of the latest recruits, have not really justified Boehly’s excessive spending spree.
“The Sterling one isn’t going to come off playing at wing-back, I’ll tell you that now and I’m not a manager,” said Merson.
“You’ve got to play to people’s strengths. Koulibaly doesn’t play, he (Graham Potter) goes with (Trevoh) Chalobah but I like Chalobah, he’s done very well.
“Cucurella is a prime example of: it’s different clubs. You get beat at Brighton; you probably get a little line in the paper that Brighton get beat 1-0.
“At Chelsea, he’s getting absolutely slaughtered. People saying he’s not good enough. Picking him out when goals go in, that didn’t happen at Brighton.”
Chelsea’s other fresh faces
Cucurella has faced his fair share of criticism, disapproval that’s been spread out across the squad.
Sterling heads into his World Cup journey with England off the back of some unusually shoddy showings.
The 27-year-old hasn’t scored in the Premier League since the end of August, netting just twice in 12 outings across all competitions since.
Potter’s use of the Three Lions international has not helped this drought in the slightest.
Koulibaly has suffered a few injuries since joining from Napoli, ensuring his minutes have remained at a minimum.
Fofana has featured even less due to sustaining a knee injury at the beginning of October.
Zakaria is also awaiting just his third appearance as a Blue, having only been picked by Potter for the first time 11 days ago.
All in all, it’s fair to say Boehly’s signings have yet to set South West London alight.
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