Chelsea owners ‘underestimated’ squad-building challenge, says Klopp: ‘It’s good

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Chelsea’s owners “underestimated” the challenge of building a squad capable of competing at the highest level.

Klopp added that the volume of players brought in over the past year gave the Chelsea coaches “a nearly impossible job”.

Chelsea were bought by a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital at the end of last season but this campaign has been a struggle for the west London side, with two head coaches sacked, a run of poor results and £553million ($695m) spent on new signings.

Frank Lampard was installed as a caretaker manager earlier this month but has failed to secure a win in his second spell in charge, with Chelsea knocked out of the Champions League and sitting 12th in the Premier League.

“I feel a little bit for Chelsea to be honest, because it’s not going well,” Klopp told Sky Sports. “I think they’re a top, top team but on the other side, it’s good to see that you cannot just bring top players together and think it works out.

“You have to build a team and that’s what the guys there underestimated and gave their coaches a nearly impossible job to do.

“You cannot have two dressing rooms, you cannot train on two pitches, you have to create relationships, you have to create team spirit, and that’s the only reason why I’m a little bit happy about it.”

Lampard’s arrival on an interim basis until the end of the season followed the sacking of Graham Potter, who in turn had been appointed to replace Thomas Tuchel in September.

Chelsea are now close to appointing Mauricio Pochettino as their new head coach but the Stamford Bridge side will almost certainly be without European football next season, as they are 14 points off of Liverpool in seventh with six games left to play.

“Chelsea will be fine in the end and they will be incredibly strong next year,” Klopp added, “but I’m using them just as an example.

“At the highest level, no, we cannot do it like that. And that’s what we (Liverpool) will not do.

“You have to bring in the right players and build a new team. This team wrote a sensational story and now we start a new one, that’s it.”

Liverpool have also endured a testing season under Klopp but a recent run of 17 points from their last nine league matches has given them a good chance of securing continental football for 2023-24.

Chelsea’s next game comes against league leaders Arsenal on Tuesday, while Liverpool face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.