Darren Bent and Andy Goldstein both arrived at a similar conclusion whilst discussing Malang Sarr.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the pair agreed that the defender is not up to the standard of Chelsea.
Unsure of Sarr
Since arriving at Stamford Bridge in 2020, Sarr has done little to suggest otherwise.
His loan spell with Porto certainly did not turn many heads, unless those heads were turning away in disappointment.
He returned to Cobham for pre-season, with many anticipating his swift departure straight back out the exit door.
However, Thomas Tuchel decided to keep him on board, potentially due to a lack of outside interest.
Despite sticking around, Sarr was very much the spare part of the project.
The 23-year-old didn’t make an appearance of any kind until the eighth game of the campaign, the Carabao Cup victory against Aston Villa.
A first start in the Premier League didn’t arrive until just under a month later, but even that was out of necessity rather than choice.
Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva were both absent for the trip to Brentford, so Tuchel had to place Sarr in the back-three alongside Andreas Christensen and Trevoh Chalobah.
Chelsea kept a clean sheet that evening, yet the young Frenchman didn’t play again in the league for another 14 fixtures.
Maligned Malang
Rather surprisingly, Sarr returned to the XI for arguably his side’s biggest test of the term up to that point, away to Manchester City.
Although the Blues lost 1-0, the centre-back certainly held his own and earned a positive review.
But other than the performance at the Etihad, and a few good showings against Tottenham Hotspur, it’s all been rather underwhelming for the former Nice player.
He will most likely get another chance to prove himself, now Chelsea are down to the bare bones in defence.
Todd Boehly is reportedly going to hand Tuchel £200m to spend this summer, with most of the money surely going on the rear guard.
“If they do get £200m, you have to start back to front. Rudiger’s gone, who was fantastic, Christensen’s going,” said Bent.
“That leaves Thiago Silva. I know you’ve got Trevoh Chalobah and Sarr. I like Chalobah, he’s good. Sarr, I’m not convinced by with.”
“Oh, anything but,” replied Goldstein.
“Exactly, so they are going to have to spend a big fraction of it on defenders.”
Jules Kounde, Gleison Bremer, Caglar Soyuncu and Josko Gvardiol are just a number of the names that could be signed to put Sarr even further down the pecking order.
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