‘We are suffering’ – Mikel claims Chelsea ‘failed’ in transfer window as he blasts £125m mistake | OneFootball

Former midfielder John Obi Mikel has hit out at “suffering” Chelsea for failing to bring in an adequate replacement for Enzo Fernandez.

The Blues brought in 12 new faces over the summer transfer window as BlueCo looked to give new head coach Xabi Alonso all the tools to mount a push up the Premier League.

A tenth-placed finish last season saw Chelsea out of Europe and inevitably they lost some of their best players in Marc Cucurella and Fernandez.

Chelsea had started the new campaign well with wins over Fulham and Brighton but defeat to Arsenal and a draw at home to newly-promoted Hull City has seen them take a dip.

Mikel thinks there main problem is now midfield after signing Emiliano Martinez and Maxence Lacroix to shore up their defensive situation.

The former midfielder reckons the absence of Moises Caicedo – who has only played 14 minutes this season – and their failure to replace Fernandez in the summer market are Chelsea’s biggest issues.

Mikel said on the Obi One podcast: “We are missing Moises Caicedo. When we get him back, I think we will be a much, much more solid team.

“He is that guy that breaks up play, that makes sure that our back-four is well protected. Our back four is solid.

“That energy that he brings, break up plays, setting up plays, driving the ball forward, just what Declan Rice is doing for Arsenal. That’s what Moises Caicedo brings for us and he’s been an absolutely huge miss.

“As soon as he comes back, I think we’ll be a much better team. There’s absolutely no question about it.”

Mikel on Chelsea: ‘We failed’

Despite attempting to sign Lamine Camara on deadline day, Monaco pulled out of a deal at the last minute to leave Chelsea without their Fernandez replacement.

Mikel added: “That is one position that the club has failed to strengthen during the transfer window. We failed.

“We knew Enzo Fernandez wanted to leave the football club. We knew for so long he wanted to go. Yes, we got £125million sitting in the bank, but we failed to bring in another player and that’s why we are suffering right now.

“We talk about leaking goals. Yes, we can blame the defence, but you need at least two holding players to be able to shield and protect the back-four in that system. You need that because you’re going to be exposed.

“The likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro… they’re not going to defend as much. We do not want to drag them all the way back to defend because their job is to defend at the halfway line and when the ball gets to them, they do what they do best: create chances and score goals.

“We don’t want them to waste so much energy tracking their man all the way back because when they have the ball, they need all that energy to be able to go forward.

“So, when we get Caicedo back with his stamina, with this energy that he has to be able to cover two, three positions, breaking up plays, that is going to make us much more solid.

“We absolutely need him to come back. Yes, we’ve lost Enzo Fernandez, but I think if Mo comes back in the team, I think it’s going to make us a much, much better team because we’re conceding so many goals.

“It’s incredible. We can’t keep scoring four or five goals to win games. We should be able to score two goals and game over.”