Gary Neville tells Chelsea they need to sell first team player before it's too late

With the end of the January transfer window approaching, pundit Gary Neville has made a forthright recommendation to Chelsea.

The Blues suffered a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City on Saturday to leave them outside the top four places in the Premier League and Neville identified the Chelsea player making 'far too many errors' and giving Enzo Maresca a puzzle to solve if he's to re-establish Chelsea as one of the top teams in the league.

Goals from Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden took City back into the Champions League places and it was the Norwegian's goal, which made it 2-1 to City, that attracted Neville's ire.

Blues goalkeeper Robert Sanchez came off his line with the score at 1-1 and got nowhere near the ball, leaving Haaland with the time and opportunity to cut inside onto his left foot and lift the easiest of chips over the Spaniard to put his team in front with just a quarter of the match remaining.

Sanchez was also at fault when Wolverhampton Wanderers scored in vain in Chelsea's previous league match. According to Premier League data, Saturday's error was the fifth time this season a Sanchez mistake has led to a goal against Chelsea. No player has committed more.

Robert Sanchez has made a string of errors leading to goals (Image: Getty)

After describing 'such a poor, poor decision' in his role as co-commentator on Sky Sports, Neville elaborated on his podcast.

"We have to talk about the goalkeeper," said Neville.

"That wouldn't have been a goal if the goalkeeper isn't about 25 yards off his line at the edge of the box. What is he doing? It's too important a position and I think Chelsea at this point in time are going to have to look at it. He's making far too many errors week in, week out. It was a mini turning point in the game."

Gary Neville (Image: Getty)

Chelsea signed Sanchez from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer of 2023, paying a reported fee of £20 million to reunite him with the club's other former Brighton players and replace Kepa Arrizabalaga. Sanchez's fellow Spanish international remains a Chelsea player but is spending the season on loan at AFC Bournemouth, where he's made a consistent contribution to an unbeaten run in the Premier League that now stretches to eleven matches.