Chelsea’s transfer disaster sparks brutal Premier League verdict

Robin Bairner

• 25 Sep 2025 12:00 CDT
• 3 min read

News

Chelsea legend Jon Obi Mikel has complained that a mistake in the transfer window has left it “incredibly difficult” for the Stamford Bridge to win a sixth Premier League title.

It has been 10 years since the Blues were last crowned champions of England, and while Enzo Maresca led them to Club World Cup glory in the summer, there is a glaring weakness in the current squad letting them down, the 2012 Champions League winner believes.

The former midfielder has pointed to Robert Sanchez as being a weak link in the squad. He claims that Chelsea should have moved for Gianluigi Donnarumma when he was put up for sale by PSG in the summer.

Compared

Robert Sánchez

GK

Chelsea

Robert Sánchez

GK

Chelsea

VS

Gianluigi Donnarumma

GK

Man City

Gianluigi Donnarumma

GK

Man City

€24.9M	ETV	€23.8M
€22.4M - €27.4M	ETV Range	€21.4M - €26.2M
27 years old (18 Nov, 1997)	Age	26 years old (25 Feb, 1999)
Spain	Nationality	Italy

“I have said it so many times. We should have, in the transfer window, brought in a top goalkeeper,” he said on the Obi One podcast.

“We have seen what Donnarumma is doing now at Manchester City. He was the goalkeeper who was out there.

“I know there has been a lot of talk about the wage structure, but you can find a way around that.

“He's a top goalkeeper, 26 years of age, you could have found a way around that he fits into the wage structure.

“It's going to be incredibly hard for us to win the Premier League with the goalkeeper that we have right now.”

Obi Mikel's criticism comes after Sanchez was sent-off just five minutes into a Premier League loss against Manchester United last weekend.

Donnarumma tips Premier League title towards City

The former Nigeria ace believes that Chelsea needed to copy the ruthless nature of Guardiola, who has made a signing that could decide the title race.

He added: “Every top club has got a goalkeeper, Pep Guardiola notified that. Ederson, absolutely fantastic for City, but wasn't the same Ederson he used to be. He needed to get rid of him, and he did that.

“Guardiola has to think about the success of the club, the success of the team, how to get back to winning ways, and he made a change - a change that Ederson and some of the players won't like.

“He's got Donnarumma, and we can see now, he dominates the area and makes saves, he's huge. A top goalkeeper wins you the league.”

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