John Obi Mikel blasts £125m Chelsea transfer mistake after Hull draw | Football

John Obi Mikel says Chelsea’s failure to sign one player last summer is now costing Xabi Alonso dearly in the Premier League.

After a bright start to the season under their new manager, Chelsea have faltered over the past week with defeat to Arsenal and a 2-2 draw at home to newly-promoted Hull City.

The Blues have little problem finding the back of the net but can’t keep them out down the other end, scoring 18 goals and conceding 12 in their six games across all competitions so far.

Alonso signed World Cup winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Maxence Lacroix over the summer to sure up their defence, but clearly much more work is needed on the training ground.

Obi Mikel believes a key issue lies in midfield however, namely the absence of Moises Caicedo, who has played just 14 minutes this campaign due to a calf injury.

‘We are missing Moises Caicedo. When we get him back, I think we will be a much, much more solid team,’ the Chelsea icon said on the Obi One podcast.

‘He is that guy that breaks up play, that makes sure that our back-four is well protected. Our back four is solid.

‘That energy that he brings, break up plays, setting up plays, driving the ball forward, just what Declan Rice is doing for Arsenal. That’s what Moises Caicedo brings for us and he’s been an absolutely huge miss.

‘As soon as he comes back, I think we’ll be a much better team. There’s absolutely no question about it.’

With the Ecuadorian out, Alonso’s preferred midfield duo is Romeo Lavia and Reece James, with the captain seemingly no longer viewed as a right-back.

Chelsea are a centre-midfielder light of where they want to be after the club were unable to sign a replacement for Enzo Fernandez, who departed for Manchester City on deadline day in a record-breaking £125million transfer.

A deal for highly-rated Monaco youngster Lamine Camara was on the cards but fell through at the eleventh hour, something that has left Obi Mikel fuming and exasperated.

‘That is one position that the club has failed to strengthen during the transfer window. We failed,’ the Nigeria legend added.

‘We knew Enzo Fernandez wanted to leave the football club. We knew for so long he wanted to go. Yes, we got £125million sitting in the bank, but we failed to bring in another player and that’s why we are suffering right now.

‘We talk about leaking goals. Yes, we can blame the defence, but you need at least two holding players to be able to shield and protect the back-four in that system. You need that because you’re going to be exposed.

‘The likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro… they’re not going to defend as much. We do not want to drag them all the way back to defend because their job is to defend at the halfway line and when the ball gets to them, they do what they do best: create chances and score goals.

‘We don’t want them to waste so much energy tracking their man all the way back because when they have the ball, they need all that energy to be able to go forward.

‘So, when we get Caicedo back with his stamina, with this energy that he has to be able to cover two, three positions, breaking up plays, that is going to make us much more solid.

‘We absolutely need him to come back. Yes, we’ve lost Enzo Fernandez, but I think if Mo comes back in the team, I think it’s going to make us a much, much better team because we’re conceding so many goals.

‘It’s incredible. We can’t keep scoring four or five goals to win games. We should be able to score two goals and game over.’

There is a chance Caicedo could return to fitness in time to play on Friday night, when Chelsea venture across west London to Brentford.

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