Jamie O’Hara says ‘terrible’ Robert Sanchez is a ‘massive problem’ for Chelsea and will prevent the Blues from competing for major trophies.
Sanchez, who joined Chelsea in a £25m move from Brighton in the summer of 2023, has attracted criticism for his performances this season despite the Blues’ impressive form.
Ex-Premier League midfielder O’Hara has labelled Sanchez ‘terrible’ and says Chelsea need to dip into the transfer market to sign a replacement for the Spanish shot-stopper.
‘Chelsea are looking good you know,’ O’Hara told talkSPORT after Enzo Maresca’s side beat Leicester City to stay third in the Premier League.
‘They’re a bit shaky at the back still. Sanchez, the goalkeeper, is a massive problem. He’s terrible.
‘But they look good overall. With the quality and the players they’ve got, they will always produce moments.
‘Nicolas Jackson is on fire and proving people wrong too. He’s turning into a really good striker. They’ve got talent all over the park. They’re not a million miles off it now are they?
‘The issue they’ve got is Sanchez. Teams that win the league don’t have a bad goalkeeper. When you look at title winners, they all have one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
‘That’s the issue they have and they have to address that situation in January by buying a top, top goalkeeper.
‘They are hard to find, don’t get me wrong, but that Sanchez is a problem for Chelsea.’
Serbian goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic featured heavily for Chelsea last season but Maresca quickly made Sanchez his No. 1 following his appointment at Stamford Bridge, with Petrovic sent on loan to Strasbourg.
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Ex-Chelsea midfielder Emmanuel Petit also has major doubts about Sanchez and says his former club won’t ‘win major trophies’ with him in goal.
‘I don’t think that Robert Sanchez is the man to win major trophies as Chelsea’s goalkeeper, he has made so many mistakes,’ he told Casino Hawks.
‘Strikers and goalkeepers have been a concern at Chelsea for years and if you want to win big trophies then the spine of the team has to be a focal point.
‘Robert Sanchez isn’t among the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.’
Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez were on target in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
Following the victory, Maresca said: ‘Good performance. Overall we deserved to win. It was also a good game to learn many things.
‘For the first 30 minutes we were in complete control of the game and then started to make some mistakes and lost some control.
‘In the last 10 minutes of the first half we started to be a bit sloppy. This is something we can learn that in football you can’t drop anything.’
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