Claude Makelele urges Chelsea fans to give owners and new players time

Former Blues midfielder backs Chelsea to challenge for Premier League title next season and for Enzo Fernandez to come good

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez, right, has struggled to make an impact since moving to England. Reuters

Former Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele believes the Blues are on the right path and has urged supporters to give both the board and the new players time.

A consortium led by LA Dodgers part owner Todd Boehly purchased the Premier League club from Roman Abramovich last year after the Russian was forced to sell for alleged links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The group quickly flexed their financial muscle by spending more than half-a-billion euros over the past two transfer windows on new players.

Despite the huge layout, Chelsea are left with an outsize squad sheared of a prolific centre-forward which has been reflected in performances and results. They are the league's joint-fourth lowest scorers (34) but boast the joint-third best defensive record (39 conceded).

Instead of challenging for a Champions League spot, Chelsea find themselves in the bottom half of the Premier League with no chance of even qualifying for the Europa League.

In fact, 11th-placed Chelsea are closer in points to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest (33 points), their opponents in the league on Saturday, than they are to Manchester United in the fourth Champions League spot. They were eliminated from this season's Champions League 4-0 on aggregate by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and faired badly in domestic cup competitions too.

Frank Lampard has been tasked with overseeing the first-team until the end of the season after the West London club sacked previous manager Graham Potter after only 31 games in charge. Potter had replaced Chelsea's Champions League-winning coach Thomas Tuchel after the German was axed in September.

When asked about the prospect of Chelsea not qualifying for Europe for the first time since 2016 Makelele, who represented the club with distinction from 2003 to 2008, said that although the season had been a disappointment, he was confident they could turn it around next term.

“Football is not easy. You can change [a lot of players] and put in a lot of money, but we see many examples where it takes a long time for clubs [to be successful],” Makelele, speaking on the sidelines of the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards in Paris last week, said in response to questions by The National.

“I don't think it is a negative [for Chelsea to have such a large squad], I think it's positive because they can build a young team for the future.

“We need to give the new Chelsea owners time. In football, you know, there is no time, you need to be winning trophies straight away.

“But I think next year Chelsea will be ready to fight for the Premier League title.”

A huge chunk of Chelsea's more than €600 million outlay was spent on Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez in January.

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The 22-year-old burst on to the scene in Qatar late last year, helping Argentina to win a third World Cup with some dominant performances.

The Blues paid Benfica a British transfer record £107 million to bring him to Stamford Bridge, but the team's collective struggles means Fernandez has so far struggled to make an impact in England.

Makelele, a mainstay in the French national team where he won 71 caps from 1995-2008, made the move to West London from Real Madrid 20 years ago and said the best was yet to come from Fernandez.

“He is a good player. Any time you win the World Cup, you're clearly a good player,” Makelele, 50, said.

“The Premier League is new for him. Also, when you come later in the season, it is also difficult.

“I think next year [Chelsea] will create a great team and he will be a big part of it.”