Merson: 'Chelsea squad built from Youtube'

"Three years ago, Chelsea won the Champions League and now they're getting hammered by Arsenal. Not long ago, in Arsene Wenger's 1,000th game, Arsenal lost 5-0 to Chelsea. Look at the present," Merson wrote on Sky Sports. "If you were reading a book, you'd throw it into the sea halfway through. You'd think this can't happen. You can't spend over $1 billion and be that bad."

Since acquiring Chelsea for $5.2 billion in the summer of 2022, American billionaire Todd Boehly has spent $1.3 billion on the transfer market. However, they have not achieved commensurate success, even having to continuously change coaches, from Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter to now Mauricio Pochettino.

Last season, Chelsea finished 12th in the Premier League with 44 points - the club's worst record. This season, they will continue to be empty-handed, losing 0-1 to Liverpool in the League Cup final, 0-1 to Man City in the FA Cup semi-finals and are losing ground in the race for a European Cup ticket, finishing ninth in the Premier League. In midweek, "The Blues" lost 0-5 at the Emirates Stadium and suffered their heaviest defeat to Arsenal in history.

Due to their heavy spending on transfers, Stamford Bridge has used the amortisation trick of extending each player’s contract to eight years, rather than four or five, to reduce the risk of breaching FFP. This way, transfer fees are spread over a longer period.

Most recently, Chelsea has activated a one-year extension clause in the contracts of Enzo Fernandez and Mykhaylo Mudryk. Accordingly, Fernandez's current contract with a weekly salary of 225,000 USD will expire in 2032, while Mudryk's salary will be 120,000 USD per week under a contract until 2031.

If they stay at Stamford Bridge until the end of their contracts, Fernandez and Mudryk will turn 31 and 30 respectively, meaning they will have spent almost their entire top-flight careers at Chelsea.

In January 2023, Fernandez and Mudryk joined Chelsea for $135.5 million and $119 million respectively, but both failed to live up to expectations. Fernandez has scored seven goals and provided five assists in 62 games, while Mudryk has scored six goals and provided four assists in 53 games in all competitions.

Merson has criticised Chelsea for signing seven- or eight-year contracts and saying they will be "stuck" with the current squad. According to the England international, Chelsea currently lack unity, as demonstrated by the players fighting over penalties in the 6-0 win over Everton, and rely too much on Cole Palmer - an attacking midfielder who has 25 goals and 13 assists in 42 games in all competitions.

"Chelsea are a circus now," Merson continued. "They've spent over $1 billion but can't score and rely on one player. You look at the money they've spent and there are players from clubs in the bottom half of the table who could break into the Chelsea squad. Football is changing so fast and now they're stuck. I don't know what they'll do."