Rio Ferdinand has warned Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino about the lack of balance in his squad after agreeing a deal to sell Mason Mount to Manchester United.
The Red Devils have agreed a deal to sign England midfielder Mount for an initial £55million from Chelsea after weeks of negotiations.
Man Utd will pay an additional £5m dependent on appearances and success. The 24-year-old is understood to have agreed a five-year contract, with an option for a further year.
Mount came through the ranks at Chelsea, scoring 27 goals and providing 22 assists in 129 Premier League appearances. The 24-year-old – a Champions League winner with the Blues in 2021 – has won 36 England caps and started the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
Mount joins numerous players to have already left Stamford Bridge this summer, especially in midfield, with N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all departing.
And Ferdinand thinks Chelsea – who spent around £600m in the previous two transfer windows – could have to splash out again to improve their midfield for new boss Mauricio Pochettino.
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Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube channel: “You look at Chelsea’s midfield – Jorginho went last season, Kante and Kovacic have gone, Mount and Loftus-Cheek are on their way out.
“That’s five midfielders, two or three of them start. There’s no midfield at that club at the moment.
“They’ve got about eight or nine attacking players in the wide areas but the squad lacks balance, they’re crying out for some midfielders.
“It’s going to be interesting to see where they go because they need someone alongside Enzo, who they spent £100m on.”
Speaking about Chelsea’s transfer strategy over the past 12 months, Ferdinand added: “Are these players Chelsea are buying for the future?
“Because they’ve sold a lot of experience and are bringing in players that look like development players to me.
“They look like they will need time. They’ve got huge potential but Chelsea need players for now as well.
“Is it a change in tact in their recruitment? It’s going to be really interesting to see how Chelsea shape up after the transfer window. Chelsea fans might need to be patient.”
Chelsea have also sold Germany international Kai Havertz this summer to Premier League rivals Arsenal with the former Bayer Leverkusen man excited to get started.
Havertz said on Arsenal’s official website: “It’s super exciting for me to be joining this amazing club and to be part of the Arsenal family. This club has such a big history, and I hope we can achieve lots of things.
“The mentality in the Arsenal squad is very high and you can feel that. That was one of the reasons why it has been so hard to play against Arsenal recently.
“The aim is to win trophies and I’m going to give everything to do that for the supporters and everyone at the club. I’m now looking forward to meeting all the players and the staff when we come back for pre-season.”