Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has expressed dissatisfaction with the way co-owner Todd Boehly has been running the club since taking over from Roman Abramovich, saying that he can no longer recognize the team.
Chelsea suffered a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday, resulting in their elimination from the Champions League with a 4-0 aggregate loss at the quarter-final stage.
The team has been on a winless run of seven games in all competitions, with five losses, and currently sits at 11th place in the Premier League. With the season drawing to a close without any trophies, Drogba, who won 12 major honors during his nine seasons at Chelsea, criticized the club’s current management.
“I knew this club with a certain class during the Abramovich era, but today I find it lacking. It’s very hard for me to see how they got rid of certain people,” he told Canal+.
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“They should go back to the principles and values they had. I no longer recognise my club.”
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Chelsea have spent more than £600million on new players since the new owners came on board last May and have already parted company with two head coaches.
The vast majority of those new recruits have yet to find their feet, with the Blues starting their second-leg tie against Madrid without a recognised striker.
“Bringing in players like Petr Cech, Andriy Shevchenko, Herman Crespo, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, I go on – it was done to win titles,” Drogba added.
“They are players with a certain experience. The strategy is now different; we bet on young players. But a dressing room of over 30 players is difficult [to manage] for a manager.”
Chelsea, under the caretaker management of Drogba’s former team-mate Frank Lampard, have seven league games remaining in what has been a dismal campaign.