How the hell do you spend thick end of £1bn and still be short of a real striker?

Congratulations Mr Boehly!

SPENDING a billion pounds in the transfer market and not securing a proven, goalscoring striker is like building a beautiful, expensive house and saying: ‘Don’t let’s worry about the roof.’

This is how I see Chelsea’s predicament. Mauricio Pochettino’s predicament.

What we witnessed in their defeat at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night was the latest manifestation of what has been evident all season: a collection of players, some very good, some not so good, and not a single proper goalscorer at the top level.

There were signs of discontent among the fans after the Carabao Cup defeat and if Chelsea don’t make a European place at the end of the season, Mauricio’s job will be on the line.

He could have no complaints about that. It’s the price of football management now. Mauricio has given his tacit approval of the players Chelsea have brought in. But I do think it’s important to remember that he has been given the keys to a dressing room full of players who were bought by nonfootballing people and asked to make a team of them.

He’s picking up the baton handed him by that self-styled football ‘guru’ Todd Boehly — who named himself Chelsea’s ‘acting director of football’ almost immediately on arrival.

Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku were clearly not the answer. But only one Chelsea player scored more than Lukaku, two seasons ago. I know they’ve spent on potential in Nicolas Jackson but if you lay out a billion, as Chelsea have, you have to sign players for today, not some time in the future.

People say, ‘You build from the back’ when putting together a team but that’s not entirely true. If you are getting goals, the confidence is continually there in the team and you can be nicking games, even if the rest of the team is not up to scratch. Liverpool don’t have to play well to win every week because they have firepower — the same as in my time playing for the club.

Time will tell if Mauricio can put things together. He’s come with a decent c.v., of course. He’s not won much — just the one title in France with PSG — but he has a proper understanding of the English game and ‘playing the right way’, whatever that means. (I always thought the ‘right way’ was just to win football matches.)

He earned a lot of credit from his time at Spurs, even though he didn’t actually win anything there.

That’s where he was blessed with some of that Lady Luck that all managers need. There was a young man called ‘Harry’ someone… and the rest is history! Kane scored 29 goals in Mauricio’s first season. Yes, there’s always a lot of luck involved. It looks to me like they don’t have any real leaders. Conor Gallagher has been captain on some occasions and when you watch him play, there’s nothing to dislike. Good technically. Good athlete. Tremendous attitude. But is there that presence in the dressing room and beyond where others would be seeing him as their leader?

We now hear that Chelsea might have to sell players to comply with financial fair play, which brings us back again to all the cash they have laid out without buying a striker.

How in hell’s name do you manage to spend the thick end of a billion, fall short of securing the most important commodity — and then have to ship more out? Unbelievable! Congratulations, Mr Boehly (left).

Chelsea have dropped from a team who were winning trophies nearly every year to their current level — a mid-table club. I don’t see this being the quick fix Chelsea fans will expect.

It all adds up to dangerous territory for Mauricio. He’s going to need all the luck he can find.