'He took you to lunch' – Martin Keown challenges Simon Jordan over his 'leniency' towards Chelsea owner Todd Boehly

Martin Keown has questioned his talkSPORT colleague Simon Jordan over an apparent leniency towards Chelsea owner Todd Boehly.

The Blues' performances on the field have declined during Boehly's two years at the club, causing the west London club to miss out on European qualification last season.

Chelsea's 12th place finish in the league last season was a surprise, but a poor start to this campaign, coupled with a whopping £400m spent on team reinforcements under the American's ownership, has raised questions about the club's direction .

However, Mauricio Pochettino's men have started to show signs of improvement in recent weeks and Thursday night's 2-0 win over Tottenham has given them a real chance of returning to European football.

While Chelsea They have not yet seen an adequate return on their large investment, Arsenal Legend Keown believes the Blues are moving in the right direction.

However, the great invincibleswho has criticized Chelsea's scattershot approach to transfers, believes Boehly has escaped criticism and says the former crystal Palace Owner Jordan has been too lenient with him.

Jordan met the Chelsea owner during the World Cup in Qatar and Keown believes a possible friendship between the two is the reason why the normally outspoken Jordan has stayed away from direct criticism of the American billionaire.

“I want to make a point to Simon,” Keown said on Friday's White and Jordan show.

“(Previously) I was saying this was crazy (Chelsea's spending) and all I could hear from Simon was: 'Oh, the manager is complicit in this, he helps pick the players.'

“The message comes from the board, the amount of money they were spending was crazy. The club has gone backwards; Now they have to rebalance and take a step forward.

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“It was a delicate situation at Chelsea. It was going in and spending a little more money and putting the icing on the cake, but instead they have to go back to the basics because the expense they had was ridiculous.

“I think Todd invited you to lunch and you came here saying all things Chelsea. Did he invite you to lunch?

Jordan refuted the idea of ​​having a dinner date with Boehly, responding, “No, of course he didn’t. I was in Qatar in a football stadium with him and Jim (White) was sitting next to me.

“The context of what was said was that the idea that the £400m spent when Pochettino was appointed manager did not have any of his fingerprints on it evades me.

“The conversation was about Pochettino and his involvement in what they may or may not have bought. They have spent too much money, dropped their pants and bought the wrong players at the wrong time.

“But I don't think the manager was completely on one side of the conversation and the £400m worth of players signed while he was manager and while he was courted by Chelsea from February, March last year, were not involved in these decisions. .

“I think Chelsea are moving in the right direction.” Jordan continued. “I still maintain that within a reasonable period of time they will be competing for the Premier League.”

Keown highlighted the £88.5m signing of Ukrainian star Mykhailo Mudryk as evidence of poor transfer deals.

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Mudryk is yet to show his best form since arriving at the club in January 2023 and Keown suggested that Chelsea took a chance on the winger because Arsenal were close to completing a deal for him.

However, Jordan rejected Keown's claim and said that while multiple signings have not worked out for the club, other suitors were interested in the club's players.

“Mudryk was a player that other clubs wanted,” Jordan added. “With (Moisés) Caicedo and (Marc) Cucurella the same thing happens. “Whether they worked at Chelsea, that conversation is clearly at the moment, not at the level they want.”

But Keown had the last word and summed up Chelsea's current situation in his own words: “Now they have to sell people like Conor Gallagher who have gone through the academy system to comply with the rules of Financial Fair Play.

“It's been crazy, there's no other word to describe it.”