Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola spoke candidly when asked what his former club's biggest problem is this season.
Speaking to the talkSPORT expert Simon Jordan about his podcastZola admitted that he is concerned about the lack of leadership in Chelsea.
“The club's policy in recent years has been to spend a lot of money,” Zola told Jordan.
“Those players had the knowledge, experience, character and personality that combined with the knowledge of how to be a successful and winning team.
“Some of Chelsea's young players are not ready and need more time.”
Chelsea has largely abandoned its tried and tested method of utilizing expertise under the new Clearlake Capital regime.
Where top level players like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba Although they used to win trophies largely on their own, they have spent more than a billion on young stars with lots of potential.
However, the plan is yet to bear fruit as Chelsea finished 12th last season and are currently 11th in the Premier League.
Zola added: “They used to have a core team of four or five players like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Branislav Ivanovic, among a couple of others, and Chelsea built their team around those players.
“Those players had the knowledge, experience, character and personality that combined with the knowledge of how to be a successful and winning team.
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“Those players were the ones who passed on those fundamental traits to the new players within the team, as well as many of the players who rose through the ranks of the youth team.
“Because they were in that environment with those core players, they were able to develop those attributes and skills.”
Chelsea have not won the Premier League since 2017, when Antonio Conte was in charge, led by a defense of Terry, Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpiicueta, all named official club captains.
Diego Costa led the line with Nemanja Matic, N'Golo Kante and Cesc Fabregas holding down the fort in midfield while Eden Hazard added the magic.
Thomas Tuchel has since led them to European glory in 2021, but their league form has largely deserted them, while Mauricio Pochettino is tasked with bringing the good times to Stamford Bridge with his young team.
