Todd Boehly and his board blame the previous management team of Chelsea for their overspending this summer.

Saif Rubie, an intermediary who worked on the deal which saw Toni Rudiger leave for Real Madrid, insisted Boehly's new regime told him they blame former owner Roman Abramovich and Marina Granovskaia's team for letting all those defenders go, necessitating the summer splurge.

He said: "The new regime had to come and pick up the pieces of decisions that were made by the old regime.

"Things like letting the lad (Marc Guehi) go to Crystal Palace, who was also a defender, letting another (Fikayo Tomori) go for not a lot of money to AC Milan.

"When I spoke to the new regime, I said the old regime cost you £100m. Do you know what they said to me? 'More'."

When asked about Rudiger's departure, Rubie added: "What if I told you Chelsea, and the old regime, basically made next to no effort to keep the player. At the time he was very happy to stay and potentially be the captain of the club.

"He was offered a contract that was half the amount Romelu Lukaku were earning."