Chelsea legend, Gianfranco Zola, has claimed the team struggled last season due to the departures of three players.
According to Zola, the three players "were the soul of the team".
The Italian believes the exits of Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic, who joined Arsenal and Manchester City respectively, hit Chelsea hard.
Zola also feels the departure of Jorginho to Arsenal in January 2023 deprived the team of an important leader.
He 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."
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