Gianfranco Zola believes that Chelsea’s struggles at the start of last season were mainly due to the departures of three players.

Zola says that the three players who left the club ‘were the soul of the team’.

Chelsea legend Zola played for the Blues between 1996 and 2003 and made over 300 appearances for the club.

According to Zola, the sales of Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic, who joined Arsenal and Manchester City respectively, hit Chelsea hard.

Zola also believes that the departure of Jorginho to Arsenal in January 2023 deprived Chelsea of an important leader.

Zola told Ladbrokes: ‘Chelsea have had a hard season especially at the beginning, but they changed a lot.

“They put a lot of young players in place, and lost a lot of experienced ones like Jorginho, Havertz, and Kovacic. They lost many players who were the soul of the team, the leaders, so it took time to get going.

“But finally Pochettino got it working and it was working quite well. It was very surprising to see him leaving and I don’t know the full reasons but obviously from a supporter point of view I am disappointed.”