Enzo Maresca has indicated that Chelsea plans to pursue additional signings next year to close the gap with Manchester City and Arsenal.
This summer, Chelsea was the top spender in the transfer market for the third time in four windows, investing £219 million.
Since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took control in May 2022, the club’s total spending has exceeded £1 billion.
Despite these investments, Maresca believes Chelsea is not yet in a position to challenge Manchester City and Arsenal, who currently hold the top two spots in the Premier League.
He said: “I think we are a very good squad, but there are clubs like Manchester City and Arsenal that are ahead of us, no doubt. Hopefully, if we progress and keep improving, we can slowly, slowly be close to them.
But I think it is quite clear that in this moment Arsenal and Manchester City are ahead of the rest.
“Like I have said, the reason why one club is nine years with the same manager (Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016), the other (Mikel Arteta at Arsenal) is five years.
The rest of the clubs… is a short time.”
When asked if that meant Chelsea needed to buy more players, he added: “The target after the last summer (window) is to try to do less things but more specific.
“This is the target for January and for next summer. Hopefully it can be like this.”