Rio Ferdinand has questioned Chelsea's decision to sack Thomas Tuchel after a slow start to the season under new ownership in Todd Boehly.
Following a loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, Tuchel was relieved of his duties. With losses to Leeds United and Southampton in the league, the Blues haven't had a convincing start to the season - coming after a hectic summer that saw over 20 players leave the club and six first-team players join the squad.
But the sacking of a manager who brought them a Champions League one year ago will certainly come as a surprise to many, being done soon after the transfer window closed.
READ MORE: Why Reece James got angry with Hakim Ziyech as Thomas Tuchel discovers true Chelsea undroppable
Speaking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents Five podcast, he said: "One of the things he's had to be on top and deal with, which is part of being a manager and not what you want, all through this window he's had a lot of players who've had to deal with sitting there openly sitting there saying I don't want to be there, I want to go.
"Keeping the dynamics, the culture, the environment in that period is very difficult when you've got people wanting to leave that leaves questions to other players 'why the hell are they leaving? Why are they going? Oh my god, what does that mean? We're not very good? This ain't the right place, the right club?'
"There's a lot of questions from the players that are staying under contract. When you've got a lot of negative energy around the place, it's so difficult to deal with.
"I look at the ownership now, and you've given a man £300m, near enough, to spend in the window, broke records, and the first six or seven games of the season haven't gone perfectly well as you'd expect with that investment and you choose to sack him so quickly. Give the track record, let alone what he's done previously - where do you go now? That's the question, where do Chelsea go now with the manager?"
He added: "The Chelsea fans are going nuts, they're not happy. I think anyone who comes in right now, who's available, I can only see in Chelsea fans and people like us, and you think it's a downgrade on Thomas Tuchel on what he's achieved and what he's done.
"He's a proper manager. All the players I speak to speak positively of him. He's so honest and direct and has complete clarity on how they want to play. Yeah, they're having a bad spell right now, but it's six bloody games.
"I can't understand it, I don't know where you invest anywhere else in that guy, in his beliefs, philosophy and his vision and invest £300m to go and spend it, execute it, then after six games, not even six weeks, six games giving him the bullet, it doesn't make sense to me."
READ NEXT:
- Every word from angry Thomas Tuchel on blaming himself, Chelsea lacking hunger and no days off
- Mateo Kovacic reveals role in Josko Gvardiol pursuit and outlines his Chelsea transfer hope
- Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have warned Wolves about Diego Costa Chelsea transfer risk
- Chelsea transfer business under the microscope in 'good deal' or 'bad deal'
- What Trevoh Chalobah and Edouard Mendy did to Wesley Fofana in Chelsea defeat to Dinamo Zagreb
