Chelsea wrapped up their pre-season with a convincing win over Real Sociedad. Yet one fundamental problem remains before they can call themselves genuine Premier League title contenders.
The Blues beat Real Sociedad 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in Xabi Alonso's first outing in front of the home crowd. Alonso, who replaced the previous coach, has been tasked with improving on last season's tenth-place finish.
Alan Smith knows better. Despite the significant backing Alonso received in the transfer market, the former Arsenal striker reckons the goalkeeping position is still a glaring weakness, and he warns that Chelsea cannot compete for the title while Robert Sanchez remains their first choice.
Smith told "Metro": "Sanchez has needed to develop for some time, and it has become an obvious shortcoming in Chelsea's line-up. The club has made efforts to strengthen the defence by signing Maxence Lacroix and younger defenders, but if you want to compete for the league title, I don't think Sanchez is the right goalkeeper."
He added: "Chelsea have spent a lot of money, and I don't know whether they have room to spend more on a goalkeeper, but Sanchez seems to be the first choice at the moment."
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Sanchez arrived from Brighton for 25 million pounds in 2023. He has never quite convinced, and he made several costly mistakes across his three seasons with the club. The Spaniard started the most recent friendly against Real Sociedad.
Chelsea splashed 117 million pounds on Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa, alongside Maxence Lacroix, Marco Balestra, Valentin Barco and Pep Chavarria. Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck added experience to the squad.
Some have tipped Chelsea as the dark horse of the new season. Smith isn't convinced, believing the title race will boil down to Arsenal and Manchester City, with the latter the leading challenger to the reigning champions.
"I see Manchester City as Arsenal's main rival," Smith said. "There's a question mark due to the presence of a new coach (Maresca), but I still believe he is the only rival capable of threatening them." He also picked Arsenal to win the league again.