Jamie Carragher savages Todd Boehly in withering attack on Chelsea transfers and Joao Felix deal

Jamie Carragher has slammed Chelsea's transfer strategy and warned players against moving to Stamford Bridge.

The club's new manager Enzo Maresca is dealing with a squad overhaul, having welcomed nine new faces while seeing 13 leave, and Joao Felix is on the verge of completing a $55million switch from Atletico Madrid. This influx has resulted in what appears to be a significantly oversized squad, with homegrown players Conor Gallagher and Trevor Chalobah being forced out of the club.

After leaving a staggering 23 first-team players out for Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City, Maresca's selection dilemmas are set to intensify, especially with Felix's impending arrival potentially fuelling discontent over game time.

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Despite the ongoing recruitment frenzy at Chelsea under American co-owner Todd Boehly, Carragher – a pundit on CBS' Champions League coverage – has bluntly advised potential recruits to reject the Blues, questioning the logic behind their transfer decisions.

"Chelsea have just got to stop buying players and players have got to stop signing for Chelsea. I don't know why, if I was a player, I'd look at Chelsea and sign," Carragher vented on Sky Sports' coverage of Tottenham's 1-1 draw at Leicester City on Monday.

"The only reason you might is if your agent says 'we're getting a seven-year deal on big money - it's guaranteed money'. You know what I'd say – back yourself as a player, sign a four-year deal at a proper club, back yourself to do well."

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"Then when you're up for renewal your money goes up anyway. I don't understand why players are signing seven-year deals. There isn't anything there. It is not a young and exciting team. They've just signed Joao Felix - tell me where he's going to play."

"They signed Neto a week ago - where is he playing when you've got Cole Palmer? Great football teams need competition. But every team I played in, there were seven or eight players who knew they were playing every week."

"Then you've got seven or eight players who are fighting for three positions. Then you've got another six players who are squad players. That is a healthy squad. What Chelsea have now, where's Felix going to get changed at the training ground. If you've got 40 players - how are you in one dressing room? How are you putting a training session on? ".

Despite Carragher expressing skepticism about Chelsea's approach to transfers, coach Maresca was upbeat about his team's performance against City, even with the loss. He remains positive about the path they're on.

"I thought our performance was good. We don't like to lose but I thought the performance was there. We competed against the best team in the world and we competed for large parts at the same level and in some moments were even better," Maresca commented.

"I said the other day that I didn't expect the team to already be this [far] ahead so the direction is a good one and I don't have any doubt that day by day we are getting better and we are going to have days where we win games and we will be happier."