BBC Pundit and Manchester United club legend Phil Neville said that whoever let midfielder Nemanja Matic leave Chelsea and sign with United should be sacked; amongst the many colorful things he had to say in his commentary about the Matic deal. Neville even joked that he would have chained him to the training ground walls.
“What’s gone wrong for Chelsea? One word. Matic,” Neville said after Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat at Roma last night in the UEFA Champions League group stages.
“It’s as simple as that. The minute they sold Nemanja Matic was a mistake.”
“When you had Matic sat in front of you, alongside (N’Golo) Kante, there was protection. Whoever made that decision needs sacking. That is one of the poorest decisions I have ever seen in the Premier League.”
“If you ask any of those Chelsea players who they would want back, they would say Matic. Chelsea replaced him with someone who is going to do the same job: (Tiemoue) Bakayoko is not that player, he is not a holding midfield player.”
“They didn’t replace Matic. I wouldn’t have let him out of the building, I would have chained him to the training ground walls.”
There has been debate as to who exactly sanctioned the sale of Matic to United, but some reports at the time indicated the order came down from owner Roman Abramovich himself. At the time, relations between United and Chelsea were even more strained than usual with Old Trafford having swooped in and hijacked the London club’s deal for the Everton striker.
Matic himself was coy, and didn’t reveal anything when asked about the specifics of his transfer deal.
Chelsea head into the weekend’s headliner match against Manchester United as league champions and favored at home, but also in fourth place. Meanwhile United are currently in second place, trending upward from a sixth place finish last season.
It’s true the Blues are reeling from the loss of Matic, as Bakayoko hasn’t really replaced him, but the loss of reigning PFA Player of the Year N’Golo Kante hurts even more.
He’s a doubt for this match, and he’s also missed the last six contests.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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