Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has been slammed for his transfer policy since buying Chelsea from former owner Roman Abramovich.

According to Paul Merson, Chelsea have gone from a club fighting for trophies to a club trying to get in the top four so quickly.

Merson told Sky Sports: “Chelsea have brought in a million players and you think: ‘How do you get a team out of this lot?’

“Chelsea is about winning trophies. It’s not Tottenham, trying to get in the top four, but that’s where it’s got to – so quickly, as well.

“If you were reading this book on holiday, you’d throw the book in the sea. You’d think: ‘That’s the biggest load of rubbish. That can’t happen.’

“Chelsea had all these great youngsters they brought through, a team that had just won the Champions League, and now you look at it and think: ‘How has this happened?’ It’s like Men in Black – someone’s flipped the pen and you think: ‘What happened?’

“Mauricio Pochettino will get it right because he’s a good manager, but it’s going to be hard. If they get in the top four then they will be pulling up trees.

“They’ve bought too many players that are the same. Enzo Fernandez is different class – a cut above the rest. But how long will he stand for this?

“There’s not enough guile in the team. You haven’t got players that will put the ball through the eye of a needle.

“Teams will go to Stamford Bridge, set up 10 players behind the ball and counter-attack. I said on Saturday that Chelsea would get beaten 1-0. I know how they struggle against teams that play 10 at the back.

“They can’t break teams down. It’s like watching Subbuteo football – there’s no movement. Unless Fernandez finds that killer pass, no one else will.

“Away from home, teams will come on to Chelsea. With Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling’s pace, and Fernandez’s vision, they will cause havoc – like they did at West Ham in the first half.

“But what happened in the second half? West Ham sat deeper because they scored, and Chelsea could still be playing now and they wouldn’t have scored.

“Thiago Silva is still one of their best players – he’s 38. You don’t always have to be young. Sometimes you have to buy the ready-made product as well.

“Bar Ben Chilwell, Sterling and Silva, no one is over 25 years of age. You need experience.

“These players are all on eight-year contracts so I don’t know where this is going. Maybe you go and get the book back out the sea to see how this ends.”