Asked if Chelsea should be concerned about the exit rumours, with key personnel seemingly less than happy in their current surroundings, former Blues star Parker - speaking courtesy ofSpreadex Sports - toldGOAL in an exclusive interview: “They should be 100% concerned in that way. The players don't really want to, maybe, play in that environment, the way the club's being run.
“I think I'd be very much the same. When you sign for a football club, you sign because you like the manager. I'm not one of those that buys this modern day, ‘I like the manager's project’. What a load of rubbish. Sounds good and everyone thinks you're quite clever. Just tell the truth - you want to play for that club and you like the manager. The manager has sold it to you, not a director of football or all that, because the person you want to impress is the manager.
“The problem is at the moment, most managers haven't really got a say. It's what they're used to. So now they're looking at it and they're saying to themselves, ‘no, this ain't right’. The previous manager [Maresca] said a lot to actually get people talking about it and it's all coming to fruition.
“So when your £100 million player [Fernandez] says he wants to leave, your most effective player in Cole Palmer, suddenly you can see his form depleting. He's depleted of energy, he looks lifeless, he's got a face of a card shark at the moment in time. He's not creating a lot, he's doing a lot on his own, rather than where before he was setting everyone up. He's just lost that. Then you get the rumours about it.”