Joe Cole has named two free signings that can bring a ‘winning culture’ back to Chelsea ahead of Xabi Alonso’s arrival.
Alonso is set to take over at Stamford Bridge in July after being appointed as Chelsea’s new manager on a four-year deal.
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder emerged as Chelsea’s top managerial target after Liam Rosenior was sacked last month.
Alonso will hope to bolster a talented but underperforming Chelsea squad this summer but it remains to be seen the transfer kitty he is given in his first transfer window in charge.
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Cole believes Chelsea are crying out for some more experience after a hugely disappointing season in which they finished just tenth in the Premier League.
He named John Stones and Robert Lewandowski as two ideal signings for Chelsea, with both available on free transfers following their departures from Manchester City and Barcelona respectively.
Stones ended his decade-long spell at the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season, leaving Man City with six Premier League titles, six domestic cups and the Champions League to his name.
The 31-year-old only made eight Premier League appearances this season due to injury but that did not stop him from being named in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the upcoming World Cup.
Lewandowski, meanwhile, is searching for a new club after leaving Barcelona after four prolific seasons in which he scored 120 goals.
‘We don’t know what the finances are,’ Cole told football.london when asked about Chelsea’s plans for the summer transfer window.
‘So it’s alright saying that we’re going to buy that player and buy that player. We may have to sell players, we don’t know.
‘One thing we’re sure we don’t want is wholesale changes because these young players that you had belief in three years ago: they’re still the same players.
‘They just need what I’ve been saying for two or three years, where you have experience around them within the group that helps them through games to coach them, whilst on the pitch to give them their wisdom, you know, and build it out that way.
‘Even if you’re just selling players, there’s ones that are not going to get near it. That’s not for me to say, that’s for them to work out.
‘And then you bring in your John Stones and Robert Lewandowski and players on a free transfer who don’t need to play every minute of every game, but they understand winning, they understand culture and they can still help out in the pitch and do bits.
‘The current players need that, they’ve got it within the group, it can’t be from coaches, all the time.
‘All the great teams are coached from within their own dressing room and its knowledge and wisdom passed down over the years.
‘It just baffles me how people just don’t understand that. But hopefully, they [the Chelsea owners] have read the room and that’s the way they go now.
‘If not, if they don’t, then it’ll be all much of the same. Chelsea will be better next year and they’ll probably say we’re on the way up again. But you once you get back up, you’ll always hit the same ceilings.
‘When you get to elite level, you need experience, you need wisdom and you need quality.’
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