Chelsea were ‘clearly’ wrong letting Kevin de Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Mohamed Salah leave the club, says Martin Keown. The trio were all on Chelsea’s books but were allowed to leave the club. All three have since gone on to be considered among the very best players in the Premier League.

De Bruyne is regarded as the best player at table-toppers Man City, with Eden Hazard even claiming his old team-mate is now the best player in the Premier League. During his time at Chelsea he made just nine appearances before being sold to Wolfsburg for £18million.

Salah has been sensational at Liverpool this season, with 12 goals already this term. But in 18 months at Chelsea he was afforded a total of 13 Premier League appearances and then loaned out before being sold to Roma.

Meanwhile Lukaku joined Manchester United in a £75million deal during the summer and has 11 goals for the Red Devils. Chelsea loaned him to West Brom and Everton before selling him.

‘These players are all so talented that it clearly was the wrong decision for Chelsea to let them go,’ former Arsenal defender Keown told the Daily Mail.

‘But when these decisions were made, these players were not better than those in Chelsea’s first team. ‘It is always difficult to keep one eye on the future and Chelsea had already sent Salah and Lukaku out on loan.’

He continued: ‘For me, Salah has been the signing of the season. He and Sadio Mane are a match made in heaven for Liverpool. ‘He makes these tremendous runs — and nine times out of 10 will put the ball in the back of the net at the end of them.’