Former Chelsea defender, Glen Johnson has insisted that the club will regret selling midfielder Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City this summer as Mauricio Pochettino officially takes over at Stamford Bridge as the new manager.
Pochettino arrived at the west London club on Monday after agreeing to become Chelsea’s sixth permanent manager in five years at the end of last season.
While the former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain coach has only just joined Chelsea, the Blues have been busy in the early stages of this summer transfer window, with several high-profile players leaving the club.
Kovacic joined Premier League champions Manchester City, Kai Havertz has joined Arsenal, and Mason Mount is closing in on a £65million transfer to Manchester United.
The likes of N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy have all completed moves away from Chelsea to Saudi Arabia clubs.
However, Johnson reckons his old club could end up regretting selling Kovacic, who he described as a world-class player.
“I think he [Kovacic] is going to be one of the biggest losses for Chelsea this summer.
“They’ve got decent money for him, but they’ve sold him to a better side that he is going to improve.
“It was obviously a tough decision for Chelsea to sell him to City, but he is going to thrive at Manchester City as he is going to be surrounded by world-class players and he himself is a world-class player,” Johnson told Betfred.