Chelsea legend Pat Nevin has made a Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne claim about the Blues under Frank Lampard.
Since Roman Abramovich took over at Chelsea and transformed the club, the Blues have moulded many top young players as well as signed big-name stars from around the globe.
But every now and then one of the top prospects doesn't quite make the grade initially before hitting incredible heights elsewhere.
It happened with Paul Pogba at Manchester United before he returned to Old Trafford and Chelsea have two particularly painful examples in Salah and De Bruyne.
Whilst Salah didn't start out at Chelsea, he did sign for them as a 21-year-old but didn't blossom until joining Roma permanently and then at Liverpool, where he has starred since 2017.
De Bruyne, meanwhile, was at Chelsea from 2012 to 2014 but never broke through fully and only came to the attention of Manchester City in 2015 after starring for Wolfsburg.
Now Nevin says Lampard's squad is dramatically short on players with this quality that Liverpool and Man City are blessed with. The former winger has suggested that the Blues must either develop this type of quality player or sign a top name to compete with the best in the Premier League.
"It is of course easy to say but if you were Willian or Callum Hudson-Odoi, every time you got the ball there were two and sometimes three players to get beyond," Nevin, who was speaking after Chelsea's loss to Newcastle United at the weekend, told the club's website.
"There are very few players who can do that, especially in such confined spaces.
"This is the reason why our Premier League goals-for column is so far behind the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City. They have a raft of specialists for these exact situations.
"Both these teams come up against this problem even more often than we do but the likes of David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Mo Salah and Riyad Mahrez are masters of finding solutions. They get past defenders either by dribbling or by intelligent, brilliant intricate passing and movement.
"It is still early days for our ‘new’ team, especially in comparison with the two league leaders, but if there were a raft of problems I would be more concerned for the long term.
"I am sure Frank and his team are working diligently right now to find the solution. Get that one sorted and we will be in a very good place."
