Chelsea legend Didier Drogba says he is no longer able to “recognise my club” under new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, with the former striker accusing them of lacking the “class” of the previous regime.
The Blues were knocked out of the Champions League by holders Real Madrid on Tuesday night, bringing a sorry season to a dismal end after an unprecedented £600m spending spree led by Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali.
Drogba - Chelsea’s hero in the 2012 Champions League win against Bayern Munich - played a key role in the club’s success under Roman Abramovich but criticised the changes at Stamford Bridge in the year since Boehley took over.
“I knew this club with a certain class during the Abramovich era, but today I find it lacking,” Drogba told French TV after Chelsea’s exit. “It’s very hard for me to see how they got rid of certain people. They should go back to the principles and values they had. I no longer recognise my club.”
Frank Lampard, who suffered a fourth consecutive defeat since returning to Chelsea for a second spell in charge, refused to comment on his former team-mate’s comments.
Former England striker Michael Owen meanwhile claimed Chelsea have made a "real expensive mistake" with their £600m spending spree.
Owen told BT Sport: "It’s incredible, isn’t it, how much of a mistake they made buying so many players and it’s going to hit them where it hurts - in the pocket - because now they’re going to have to get rid of players.
"Some players won’t want to leave, so they’re going to have to pay them off. It’s been a real expensive mistake."
Owen and fellow BT Sport pundits Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand insisted the club needed a clear-out, but admitted that might prove difficult in the short-term.
Ferdinand said: "When you’ve got players sitting on huge wages who have got three, four, five, some six or seven years left on their contracts, the problem you’ve got is who buys them for a big price and pays that amount of wages that they’re on?"
