Graeme Souness believes Chelsea made a mistake selling Nemanja Matic to Manchester United because the Serbian was the "finished article".
Antonio Conte offloaded the midfielder to the Blues' Premier League rivals for £40million this summer, replacing him with Tiemoue Bakayoko for also a similar fee.
The 23-year-old Frenchman is highly rated, and Souness doesn't disagree that he is more than capable of having a brilliant career at Chelsea.
But claimed he doesn't understand why they couldn't have kept both players, especially as they will need a bigger squad to compete in the Champions League this season.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the Liverpool legend said: "They're bringing in [Alvaro] Morata, how will he settle into the team? They're bringing in this midfielder [Bakayoko], how will he settle into the team? They had the finished article.
"They had someone who was tried and trusted, Matic is a fabulous player, he gives you a seven or eight out of ten every game.
"So for Chelsea, the current champions, one eye on the Champions League, want to retain the Premier League, why can't he keep him, and play him?
"I just think it's a hell of a big call, whoever made that call to let Matic go and put all your eggs into a 23-year-old basket, who has not had any experience of the Premier League."
Bakayoko was however, impressive in the middle of the park for the Blues as they beat Tottenham 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday, to pick up their first win of the new Premier League campaign
On the opening day of the season they lost 3-2 to Burnley at Stamford Bridge.
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