Gary Neville identifies TWO 'strange transfers' Chelsea made under Todd Boehly

Gary Neville believes that Chelsea overspent on two “strange transfers” after Todd Boehly opened the Premier League club’s war chest for a lavish spending spree.

Chelsea co-owner and chairman Boehly completed his takeover of the Blues from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2022.

The Blues reinforced in last summer’s window after the arrival of several new signings, including Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Raheem Sterling.

Despite their spending spree ahead of the new season, Chelsea swiftly dismissed Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter was later appointed as his successor.

Potter has since struggled to turn the tide in Chelsea’s favour, with the Blues ninth in the league table and 10 points adrift from the top four.

Chelsea continued their spending spree in the January transfer window by adding the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile to Potter’s squad.

The Blues also smashed the British-record transfer fee to sign 2022 World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for £107m on deadline day last month.

Speaking on Sky Bet’s The Overlap, Neville drew a comparison between Boehly’s arrival at Chelsea to the beginning of Ed Woodward’s run at Manchester United.

The Sky Sports pundit added that he was left scratching his head at Chelsea overspending on the signings of Cucurella and Fernandez.

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“To me, Todd Boehly smacks of Ed Woodward when he first came to Manchester United and wanted to sign everyone,” Neville said.

“It felt like that at Chelsea in the summer and it was chaotic.

“Marc Cucurella for £64m and Enzo Fernandez for £107m -- that’s a full-back and a midfielder who will sit at the base of a three.

“The ceiling on those types of players -- like Rodri, Fabinho, Casemiro -- they are £50-60m positions.

“These aren’t players that are playing in the forward part of the pitch and scoring you 30 goals, so what they’re paying for the positions, what they’re getting for the money, they just seem like strange transfers.

“I’m not saying the players are no good. They could be really good and could go on to be great. But the fees for players in those positions seem mad to me.”