John Obi Mikel has criticised the club for failing to strengthen in two areas while they had the chance in the January transfer window.
Chelsea legend Mikel Obi has criticised the club for failing to solve two problem positions in the January transfer window.
The mid-season window closed yesterday, and Chelsea were sparingly active. Mikel, who played for the Blues from 2006–2017, regularly shares his thoughts on the club through his ObiOne podcast, and after the close of the window, he expressed his concerns on their activity.
Chelsea had a strong start to the season under new head coach Enzo Maresca, losing just twice in the league before Christmas. However, their form has dipped in recent weeks, Chelsea have managed just three wins from their last nine matches in all competitions and now sit fourth in the English top flight, 13 points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
The concerning drop-off intensified calls amongst Chelsea’s fanbase for reinforcements to be brought in over the winter, with both ends of the pitch seemingly in need of freshening up.
Chelsea’s 2-1 comeback victory against West Ham last night coincided with the end of the transfer window, and Mikel’s post-match analysis also reflected on the club’s transfer dealings.
The Blues fell behind early and needed a Wan Bissaka own goal to win the game after Pedro Neto got a timely equaliser.
In attack, Nicolas Jackson has experienced a worrying decline in form and appears to be badly struggling for confidence in front of goal, and Mikel believes they have a goalscoring problem that goes beyond the Senegalese as an individual.
“As a striker, if you haven’t scored in eight, that is massive,” Obi Mikel said on his podcast. “But it’s not just Nicolas. Again, it’s good to see that Pedro Neto came in; that’s what we’re crying out for.
“It’s not just Nicolas that needs to be chipping in with the goals. We need goals from [Noni] Madueke, we need goals from Pedro Neto, we need goals from [Jadon] Sancho, not just Nicolas.
“But as the main man, as the top striker, no goals in eight is not good enough. Now we’re looking at that and the manager has to hook him off. Who does he bring in? An 18-year-old Marc Guiu.
“He’s very young, a talented player and has got potential. But he’s not the striker that you bring in when you need goals when you need to win games.”
Mikel reiterated that Chelsea needed a new striker and pointed out that failing to sign both a striker and a goalkeeper were two major mistakes in the transfer window.
Robert Sánchez has made more errors leading to goals than any other Premier League goalkeeper this season, raising serious doubts about his reliability.
“For me, that’s something we’re crying out for. We need another top striker,”Mikel added. The window is shut, unfortunately, and now we can’t bring anyone in. We didn’t bring in a striker; we didn’t bring in a goalkeeper.
“That’s another window shut without us making the signings we think are going to help us finish in the top four.”
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