Phil Neville has described the decision by Chelsea to sell Nemanja Matic to Manchester United as the “poorest decision” he’s seen in the Premier League.
Chelsea were beaten 3-0 away to Roma on Tuesday night, the latest game missed by Matic’s former midfield partner N’Golo Kante.
Serbian midfielder Matic, 29, ended a three-year association with the Blues to reunite with former boss Jose Mourinho for a reported £40 million and subsequently made his United debut in their Uefa Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid.
Since then he’s been a consistent performer in United’s midfield, which has no doubt impressed former United and Everton full-back Neville, who is struggling to understand why he was allowed to leave Stamford Bridge in the first place.
“One word – Matic. It’s as simple as that for me,” Neville, commenting on the Roma defeat, told BBC Five Live when asked what the defending champions are missing.
“The minute they sold Nemanja Matic – and I hate going back over old ground, but when you’ve got Matic sat in front of you with Kanté, who’s been the player of the season, the last couple of years, you have the best two central midfield players in the Premier League by a country mile.
“Why they sold him…whoever made that decision needs sacking because it’s the poorest decision I’ve seen in the Premier League. To get rid of somebody…he’s not over the hill, he’s still, he’s still got loads of quality. If you ask those Chelsea players now who would they rather have in their team that’s missing…forget anybody else in world football. They’d say give us Matic back.
“Bakayoko is not that player who is going to do the same job as Matic. There’s a massive hole in that midfield at the moment. Cesc Fabregas is not a holding midfield player to play in a two. He plays in a three. He’s got to play a little bit looser with protection behind him. And they didn’t replace Matic. Whether he wanted to go or not, I wouldn’t have let him out the building.”
The former Red Star Belgrade youth player initially joined Chelsea in 2009 from Košice, but would only make two league appearances, before joining Portuguese powerhouse Benfica on a permanent deal.
He’d return in 2014, subsequently helping Mourinho win a third Premier League title, and ultimately playing 151 times across his second spell at the club.
Since joining the Red Devils he’s made 16 total appearances – with 10 of those coming in the league (making him one of seven United players to be ever-present) – and is yet to get off the mark.
Defeat to Roma saw Chelsea concede top spot in Group C. They host Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
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