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Gianfranco Zola says Chelsea made a mistake by selling three players who were “the soul of the team” last year

Bondman

By George Bird

16:47 June 17, 2024, updated 18:00 June 17, 2024


  • Gianfranco Zola says Chelsea struggled after selling three key players
  • Chelsea legend Zola believes the three stars “were the soul of the team”
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Gianfranco Zola believes Chelsea’s problems at the start of last season were mainly due to the departure of three players.

Zola claims that the three players who left the club “were the soul of the team.”

Chelsea legend Zola played for the Blues between 1996 and 2003 and made over 300 appearances for the club.

Last season, Chelsea finished in sixth place in the Premier League after showing signs of improvement in the second half of the campaign.

However, Mauricio Pochettino’s team went through some difficult times at the start of the season.

Gianfranco Zola says Chelsea struggled at the start of last season after selling three key players

According to Zola, the sales of Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic, who came to Arsenal and Manchester City respectively, hit Chelsea hard.

Zola also believes that Jorginho’s departure to Arsenal in January 2023 deprived Chelsea of ​​an important leader.

Zola told Ladbrokes: ‘Chelsea have had a difficult season, especially at the beginning, but they have changed a lot.

“They brought in a lot of young players and lost a lot of experienced players like Jorginho, Havertz and Kovacic. They lost a lot of players who were the soul of the team, the leaders, so it took time to get going.

But eventually Pochettino got it to work and it worked quite well. “It was very surprising to see him go and I don’t know all the reasons, but obviously from the fans’ point of view I’m disappointed.”

Zola believes that the loss of Jorginho and Kai Havertz, who came to Arsenal, cost Chelsea
The arrival of Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City was also seen by Zola as a hard blow

Despite the improvement Chelsea showed, Pochettino left the club last month.

There were a lot of changes at Chelsea last summer, with a host of players arriving at Stamford Bridge.

Inevitably, it took a while for some of those players to settle in, but there were some success stories, such as Cole Palmer, who scored 22 Premier League goals.

Enzo Maresca has taken charge of Chelsea on a five-year deal, while there has already been a new arrival at the club this summer in Tosin Adarabioyo, who will join on a free transfer following his departure from Fulham.



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