"I do hope I'm wrong in that assessment" - New Chelsea owner told he is making the same mistake as Roman Abramovich

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has claimed that new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is making the same mistake as his predecessor Roman Abramovich.

The west London club have spent an enormous amount of money over the summer, with their new American owner overseeing their business himself.

The Liverpool legend has slammed the Blues' transfer business this summer, citing Marc Cucurella as a signing they had to pay over the odds for. Souness wrote in his column for The Daily Mail:

"Abramovich went on to be a hugely successful football club owner but on his first day at Chelsea, a few months after our encounter, he surrounded himself with so-called experts who knew nothing about football. He wasted a lot of money because of it."

"His successor, the American Todd Boehly, seems to be making the same mistakes. In his hurry and enthusiasm to get Chelsea supporters onside, he has just spent the thick end of £300 million in the summer transfer market, appearing to do all the business himself. I do hope I'm wrong in that assessment."

Souness continued:

"Unless you have a bottomless pit, the money they have spent on Marc Cucurella makes no sense, considering Chelsea already had Marcos Alonso, Ben Chilwell and, at a push, Reece James in the same position. Is Cucurella that much of an upgrade on them? I don't think so. Chelsea only seem to have taken him because Manchester City wanted him."

Souness has also slammed Boehly for spending £70 million on Wesley Fofana, who is far from the finished product. He wrote:

"I get that they needed centre-backs because of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen going and having 37-year-old Thiago Silva, an age when your game can fall off a cliff inside a month. But £70million for Wesley Fofana? At 21, he only brings potential."

The three-time Champions League winner has also insisted that the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could go either way for the Blues. He added:

"The upside to signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on deadline day is that Chelsea now have a striker who has scored goals in the Premier League, something notoriously hard to find. The downside is that he's 33 and has a dodgy gene somewhere."

"If you want to indulge Aubameyang, then you risk heading down the same road as Arsenal did with that fool Mesut Ozil, who got in his armchair the minute Arsene Wenger put him on a ridiculously inflated salary."

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Chelsea have a lot of areas in which they need to improve

The Blues have started their season in underwhelming fashion and find themselves tenth in the table after five games. The west London outfit have won two, lost two and drawn one of their games so far. Thomas Tuchel's side have looked out of depth, especially when going forward.

Tuchel has also attracted plenty of criticism for his poor tactical setup and playing a number of players out of position.

The Blues will next be in Premier League at home against West Ham United on Saturday (September 3).