Marcel Desailly tears into ‘awful’ Chelsea star with transfer for replacement agreed | Football

Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly has torn into the ‘awful’ Robert Sanchez as the Blues put the finishing touches on a deal to sign Emiliano Martinez as his replacement.

Sanchez, signed from Brighton for £25million three years ago, was at fault again in his side’s opening game of the new Premier League season on Monday, unconvincing dealing with both of Fulham’s goals in a 3-2 win.

It has prompted Chelsea to look at alternative options with the Daily Telegraph reporting the club have agreed a £7.5million deal to bring in Martinez.

It will be the fourth piece of business between Chelsea and Villa this summer with Morgan Rogers making the move down south for a Premier League record fee earlier in the window. Alejandro Garnacho has joined Unai Emery’s side with Nicolas Jackson also set to arrive at Villa Park in a deal that could be worth up to £65m.

Martinez, 33, will sign a two-year contract at Stamford Bridge with the option of a further 12 months.

Chelsea will hope his arrival will address a problem area in the side with former Blues star Desailly identifying Sanchez as a clear weak point.

The spine of Xabi Alonso’s side has been strengthened with the arrivals of Maxence Lacroix and Rogers this summer but World Cup winner Desailly is convinced Chelsea’s major ‘wobbles’ can be traced back to Sanchez’s presence in goal.

Desailly told Metro via SportsCasting: ‘He’s awful! You expect your spine, your defensive spine, to be reliable. That spine includes Lacroix, then Fernandez, Caicedo, Palmer, and now eventually the striker too.

‘It’s awful to see Chelsea wobble because of the goalkeeper. You can put it down to it being early in the season, but you still shouldn’t show that weakness so soon.

‘I think we should stay confident that he’ll rectify it. But it’s awful to see a Premier League goalkeeper not give that stability and confidence to the rest of a young team.

‘It’s a young team with great ability; they’ve shown they have no fear over their collective performance and pressure, regardless of how big the game is. So the fear comes from teammates who don’t perform and deliver to the standard we’re expecting.’

Sanchez was beaten at his near post by Josh King’s angled shot against Fulham on Monday night.

He later spilled another effort into a dangerous area with Gonzalo Garcia pouncing to score.

The Spaniard was left out of the Chelsea squad taking on Luton in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night with Mike Penders starting in goal.

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