Ex-Chelsea defender William Gallas has not held back in his criticism of Blues co-owner Todd Boehly.

Following the takeover by the American billionaire, the club spent over £270m on transfers during the summer; £108m of which was devoted to signing centre-back pair Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly. Gallas feels that both players were panic buys and it may now hinder their chances of securing RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol:

“Chelsea were linked with Gvardiol last summer and they should have got him then. Instead, they got Fofana and Koulibaly. They already have Thiago Silva and Azpi [Cesar Azpilicueta] too so it may be difficult to get Gvardiol now. At the start of the season, it would have been a good move but I don’t know if it would be now.”

“Chelsea panicked in the summer. They saw some players and put a lot of money towards them when for me, they did not meet their value. Some chairmen spend too much money when they have no idea what they are doing.”

It should be pointed out that Chelsea lost Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen at the start of the season so recruiting replacements for the pair was a necessity, but Gallas is probably right to say that they overspent on both Fofana and Koulibaly.

In terms of Fofana, his injury record was known before he arrived at Stamford Bridge, but there is hope that he can put his fitness issues behind him, considering he is still only 21. With Koulibaly, there wasn’t a lot of criticism of the deal in the summer, with many feeling he could add more experience after the loss of Rudiger.

The Gvardiol deal is still on the cards, despite Gallas’s pessimistic outlook, although there is said to be growing interest from rivals such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Real Madrid. The 20-year-old is now likely to cost in excess of £100m and we shall see if Boehly is prepared to pay that much for the player who starred for Croatia at the World Cup.