Martin Keown challenged talkSPORT colleague Simon Jordan over a perceived leniency towards Chelsea owner Todd Boehly.
The Blues’ on-field performances have slipped during Boehly’s two-year spell at the club, resulting in the west London club missing out on European qualification last season.
Chelsea’s 12th-placed league finish last term came as a surprise but a poor start to this campaign, coupled with a whopping £400million spent on squad reinforcements under the American’s ownership, has raised questions over the club’s direction.
However, Mauricio Pochettino’s men have begun to show signs of improvement in recent weeks and Thursday night’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham has given them a genuine shot at a return to European football.
While Chelsea are yet to see adequate return on their hefty investment, Arsenal legend Keown believes the Blues are edging in the right direction.
However, the Invincibles great, who has been critical of Chelsea’s scattergun approach to transfers, believes Boehly has got off lightly with criticism and says former Crystal Palace owner Jordan has been too lenient on him.
Jordan met with the Chelsea owner during the World Cup in Qatar and Keown believes a possible friendship between the pair is why the usually outspoken Jordan has steered clear of direct criticism of the billionaire American.
“I want to take a point up with Simon,” Keown said on Friday’s White and Jordan show.
“I was [previously] saying this was madness [Chelsea’s spending] and all I could hear from Simon was, ‘Oh the manager is complicit with this, he helps to pick the players’.
“The message comes from the board, it was crazy the amount of money they were spending. The club has gone backwards; they are now having to rebalance and come forward.
“It was a finesse situation at Chelsea. It was to come in and spend a bit more money and put the icing on the cake, but instead they’ve got to go back to the foundations because the spending they had was ridiculous.
“I think Todd took you out for lunch, you came in here saying all things Chelsea. Did he take you out to lunch?”
Jordan refuted the idea of having a dinner date with Boehly and replied: “No, of course he didn’t. I was in Qatar in a football stadium with him and Jim [White] was sitting next to me.
“The context of what was said was that it evades me the idea that the £400million-odd that was spent when Pochettino was appointed manager had none of his fingerprints over it.
“The conversation was about Pochettino and his involvement in what they may or may not have bought. They’ve spent far too much money, they’ve had their pants pulled down and they’ve bought the wrong players at the wrong time.
“But I do not believe the manager was on completely one side of the conversation and the £400m worth of players brought in whilst he was the manager and whilst he was courted by Chelsea since February, March of last year, wasn’t involved in these decisions.
“I think Chelsea are moving in the right direction.” Jordan continued. “I still maintain that in a reasonable period of time they will be challenging for the Premier League.”
Keown singled out the £88.5m signing of Ukraine star Mykhailo Mudryk as evidence of poor transfer dealings.
Mudryk is yet to show his best form since arriving at the club in January 2023 and Keown hinted that Chelsea gambled on the winger because Arsenal were close to sealing a deal for him.
However, Jordan pushed back on Keown’s claim and said while multiple signings haven’t worked out for the club, other suitors were interested in the club’s players.
“Mudryk was a player that other clubs wanted,” Jordan added. “It’s the same with [Moises] Caicedo and [Marc] Cucurella. Whether they’ve worked at Chelsea, that conversation is clearly at this moment in time, not to the level they want them to.”
But Keown had the final say and summed up in his own words the state of Chelsea’s current plight: “They’re now having to sell people like Conor Gallagher who have come through the academy system to meet the rules of Financial Fair Play!
“It’s been madness, there’s no other word for it.”
News Summary:
- ‘He took you out for lunch’ – Martin Keown challenges Simon Jordan over ‘leniency’ towards Chelsea owner Todd Boehly
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.