Chelsea board slammed for making £25m transfer ‘mistake’
'The people who do that job, who bring players in, they have to know.'
William Gallas has slammed Chelsea’s decision-makers for signing Robert Sanchez and says they should have known the struggling goalkeeper was ‘not at the level’.
Chelsea spent £25m to sign Sanchez from Brighton in the summer of 2023, handing the Spanish shot-stopper a staggering seven-year contract.
Sanchez’s place in the team has been heavily scrutinised this season as he has made more mistakes that have led to goals than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League.
Enzo Maresca has repeatedly leaped to Sanchez’s defence but finally took him out of the firing line for Chelsea’s last game against West Ham, with Filip Jorgensen starting instead.
Gallas doubts Sanchez is ‘at the level’ to play for Chelsea but believes the blame should be placed at the board’s door rather than the Spaniard himself.
‘Goalkeeper errors, that is always a problem,’ the ex-Blues defender told Prime Casino.
‘Unfortunately for Robert Sanchez, he makes some big mistakes, and he makes them too often.
‘It’s easy to blame the player, but I think Chelsea fans have to blame the sporting director. They have to blame the people who brought him in.
‘He doesn’t have the level to be the number one goalkeeper for Chelsea. When you play for a big club like this, you need to have that level. Sadly, he doesn’t have it.
‘But the people who do that job, who bring players in, they have to know. Normally it’s not just the sporting director, but I’m sure they have one person who is in charge of the goalkeeper and gives his approval.
‘That person made a mistake when they signed Sanchez.’
Gallas added on Chelsea’s shortcomings in the transfer market: ‘They don’t have experience when it comes to buying players.
‘We’ve got a problem with the goalkeeper. We’ve got a problem with the defenders. Robert Sanchez made a mistake, and he was dropped from the team against West Ham.
‘If I have to speak about the defenders, Levi Colwill, in the last two games, he made big mistakes. The problem is that even though Colwill has potential, he has been asked maybe too much, to be the leader of the defence line.
‘He’s still young. He needs an experienced player to help him. That’s why for me, the people who are involved in recruitment, they don’t have experience, they don’t understand how important it is to have a central defender who has big experience to lead the defensive line.
‘Like Thiago Silva when he was there. Like John Terry when he was there. Like Marcel Desailly when he was there. When you’ve got that type of player, you can bring young players and play around them. Those young players will learn a lot.
‘When you know that Thiago Silva is going to leave, you have to prepare for his departure and bring that experienced player in.
‘That experienced player can’t be a right back or left back. No, you need someone in the centre of the defence.
‘The people who are in charge of player recruitment haven’t done their job properly.’
Chelsea moved back into the top-four courtesy of a 2-1 win over London rivals West Ham last time out. They face Sanchez’s former club Brighton in the FA Cup this weekend.
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