Arnold Riley
Former Chelsea player Ray Wilkins believes Chelsea made a huge error in allowing Ryan Bertrand to leave the club in 2015 and that Marcos Alonso is little more than a poor, albeit expensive, replacement.
The Spaniard arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer from Fiorentina and has been key for Antonio Conte’s Premier League leaders. The left wing-back has been crucial since Conte switched to a 3-4-3 formation at the start of September, which has returned 13 wins in 14 games.
Chelsea spent £23million on Alonso and bought Baba Rahman from Augsburg in the summer of 2015 in a deal which could rise to £22m.
But Wilkins has not held back on his opinion of Alonso and believes he’s nowhere near as good as the former Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand. And Wilkins believes the west London club would have done a lot better to have kept hold of Bertrand, who joined Southampton for £10m in 2015.
Wilkins was quoted saying, “I’m not a lover of Alonso.”
“I don’t think Bertrand should have left. They’ve spent £50m trying to replace Ryan and they sold him for £10million [to Southampton]. So I’m not a great fan of Alonso – he’s doing okay.” added Wilkins.
Last week Conte recalled Nathan Ake from Bournemouth, with the youngster set to challenge Alonso for a place. However Wilkins fears Ake will get few opportunities.
“But will Nathan Ake come in? They won 13 on the spin with Alonso in the side so I don’t see him getting in.” explained the former Blues man.
