Who is the big-money Chelsea flop singled out by Todd Boehly?
Senior Chelsea star ‘signed for a large fee by Todd Boehly’ is ‘picked for heavy criticism and left unsatisfied’ in dressing room speech by Blues’ under-fire chief and co-owner Behdad Eghbali…so what big money flop is it?
- A new report has claimed that a ‘senior’ player was handpicked by Todd Boehly
- Boehly called players ’embarrassing’ in the dressing room after losing to Brighton
- Intended Blues player is now reportedly ‘dissatisfied with the situation’
A mysterious Chelsea star has been left ‘disillusioned’ after being ‘picked for heavy criticism’ in Todd Boehly’s dressing room changing after the defeat to Brighton.
Boehly, who was barricaded by supporters after the Blues were thrown into a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, told his expensively assembled side that their form is embarrassing alongside other home truths.
It now appears that his criticism was not entirely general.
The protector claim that Boehly, who was in the locker room with fellow board members Behdad Eghbali and Hansjörg Wyss, ‘picked’ a player for criticism.
Their report claims the player, now believed to be disillusioned and dissatisfied, is “senior” and has “signed for a high fee in the past 12 months.”
Todd Boehly hit the Chelsea players after they were beaten 2-1 by Brighton on Saturday
An unnamed Chelsea player would have been picked and left unsatisfied as a result
Among the big money moves Chelsea have made in the Boehly era, they have picked up Enzo Fernandez (£107m), Mykhailo Mudryk (£88.5m), Wesley Fofana (£75m), Marc Cucurella (£60m), Raheem Sterling (£47.5m), Benoit Badiashile (£35m) and Kalidou Koulibaly (£33m) ).
The wording of the report – specifically ‘senior player’ – is open to interpretation as all of the above are regular first-team stars.
But in terms of age, Badiashile, Fernandez, Mudryk and Fofana are all 22 and are still among the younger players on the roster.
Cucurella is 24, Sterling is 28 and Koulibaly is 31.
The report further claimed that the player questioned was ‘a disgruntled figure in training’ as a result of Boehly’s dressing-up, with Frank Lampard’s side preparing for a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final tie .
The Blues have spent more than £600 million but are currently languishing in 11th place and look set to miss out on European football next season altogether.
A visit to Boehly’s dressing room is not uncommon, but the nature of his message raised eyebrows.
Still, Lampard said: ‘I’m comfortable with that. I had my say after the game.
“There may have been some criticism of our old owner that he didn’t come to matches and that wasn’t always true.
“I remember moments as an owners player entering the dressing rooms for the first time, I remember being happy. I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
“I had my things to say, if an owner wants to come in and be positive and talk to the players, they can.
‘No problem, it exudes passion and that’s the first thing I like.’
Fans were furious with Boehly and he then made his way to the locker room
Lampard will need to see a lot of ‘passion’ from his players as they face the ominous task of overcoming a 2-0 deficit.
“Extraordinary things can happen at Stamford Bridge. We have to believe it,” he said.
“The door is open and it’s up to us whether we want to kick it open further or not.”