‘Do Luka Modric and Toni Kroos want to play in the Premier League?’: Joe Cole implores Chelsea to try to sign Real Madrid duo… as the Blues’ legend admits Mauricio Pochettino’s side are lacking in experience

Joe Cole has urged Chelsea’s hierarchy to integrate more experienced players into their squad and identified Real Madrid duo Luka Modric and Toni Kroos as two players the Blues should look to sign.

The west London outfit have adopted a new transfer policy since the arrival of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, with the new owners spending more than £1 billion to refresh their squad and bring in more younger players.

But their strategy has yet to pay off. Despite reaching the EFL Cup final and FA Cup semi-finals, Chelsea have fallen to 11th in the Premier League after a difficult season for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Cole will play in the upcoming Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2024 match, which will take place at Stamford Bridge, and ahead of the match he told talkSPORT that the Blues needed to sign more players with a similar level of experience to their main defender Thiago Silva.

“I might want to bring in some experienced players to set the tone,” he said, reflecting on what Pochettino can do to improve his side.

Joe Cole has identified Real Madrid duo Tony Kroos (left) and Luka Modric (right) as two players Chelsea should look to sign

Cole urged Mauricio Pochettino to sign more experienced players in the summer window

‘Does Luka Modric want to play in the Premier League for another year? He’s still doing things at Real Madrid. How much did he help (Eduardo) Camavinga, (Aurelien) Tchouameni, (Federico) Valverde? He would have had such an influence on them as players.

“Toni Kroos is 34, but does he want to test himself at his age by coming here and helping this young team?”

Modric and Kroos both agreed one-year contract extensions at Real Madrid this summer and look to help Carlo Ancelotti’s side nurture some of their emerging young talents, including Jude Bellingham.

Kroos, who joined Real from Bayern Munich in 2014, has won one World Cup title and five Champions Leagues during his career.

Meanwhile, Modric has also had a stellar career in football, including winning the Ballon d’Or in 2018.

According to Cole, the Blues are missing talented figures in their squad like the pair, who are able to pass on important lessons and information on how to play the game at the highest level to their younger stars.

According to OptaChelsea also have the third-youngest team in the Premier League this season, despite their defensive marshal Silva being 39 years old – the oldest recorded player in the top flight this season.

In the summer, Chelsea opted to sign several younger talents, including Nicolas Jackson, 22, Romeo Lavia, 20, and Moises Caicedo, 22, among others.

But Cole has given his verdict on who his former club should sign in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Cole praised Pochettino for the work he has done at the club but said they needed to sign players with more experience

Under their new American owners, led by Todd Boehly, Chelsea have invested £1 billion pounds to build a team of young talents.

Thiago Silva (centre) is one of the oldest players in the Premier League and is vital for Chelsea when he plays

Cole believes adding more experience could help improve some of Chelsea’s recent younger signings

‘If I were to advise the board, I would say that we bought these youngsters, spent a lot of money on them, they are all getting better. Great, we are improving,” Cole continued.

‘But why don’t we add a number of experienced, good quality players to the group in the coming years?

‘They don’t have to play every match, but they can help, they can come in and out and set standards within the group.’

In October, Pochettino had even expressed concerns that Chelsea might want to use too many young players at once.

While pressure has increased on the Argentine in recent months amid Chelsea’s indifferent league form, Cole also admitted he felt the Argentine had done a good job of galvanizing his team in recent months as they move through a ‘transition period’ ‘ work towards.