Chelsea's 'weird' Osimhen transfer call questioned after 'silly' Maresca plan

Former Chelsea star Glen Johnson has described their failed summer move for Victor Osimhen as “ weird ” - with the wider transfer strategy of stockpiling young players underlined as a risk that might never pay off.

And the ex-full back has also hit out at Enzo Maresca for his treatment of Ben Chilwell while admitting to confusion around the apparent split between owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.

Speaking to Betfred about another chaotic summer of recruitment at Stamford Bridge, Johnson said: “The obvious one would be Victor Osimhen. He was the big name they wanted and didn’t get.

“They’ve signed loads of youngsters that may not be in the team straight away, despite spending a lot of money on them, and I think Osimhen [who joined Galatasaray in a shock loan move instead] is the big signing that they’ve missed out on.

“It’s a weird deal altogether because at one moment there were supposedly only two teams in the race to sign him and then the window’s shut and he’s moved on loan to a team that wasn’t even in the conversation to sign him.

“I don’t know if the player was asking for too much money or his club was asking for too much money, but it does strike me as a strange move considering the amount of chat there was around him going to Chelsea.”

Chelsea, who face West Ham on Saturday lunchtime, have shown flashes of promise under new head coach Maresca. But his decision to sideline a number of experienced players such as Chilwell and Raheem Sterling, who made a deadline day switch to Arsenal, does not rest easy with Johnson.

Regarding Chilwell specifically, Johnson said: “Ben’s more than good enough to be playing for Chelsea and I do believe it’s silly sometimes when a new manager comes into a club with a preconceived idea of their team before they’ve even worked with the players.

“It’s evident that the players in the ‘bomb squad’ didn’t even get a chance to impress Maresca, so in that sense, I don’t think it’s fair on Ben Chilwell.”

As for the questions surrounding Boehly and Eghbali, who are reportedly attempting to buy one another out of their stakes after differing opinions over the club’s strategy dating back to the decision to part ways with Mauricio Pochettino last season, Johnson continued: “There seems as if there’s a lot of uncertainty there, but they’re evidently building for the future because the majority of signings they’ve made have been young players.

In one sense that could be great, but Chelsea need to get back competing as soon as possible, not in five years’ time.

“If they’ve had a breakdown at the top, then that’s obviously not good incase it trickles down but right now, I don’t think we know exactly what’s happened at board level.”