When Chelsea's fresh-faced squad assembles to create a congratulatory guard of honour for Liverpool on Sunday, they'll be staring at a pantheon of Premier League greats.

Virgil van Dijk, free-scoring record-breaker Mohamed Salah, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are the indispensable, serial-winning core that have put the Reds back upon their perch.

Their achievements and stature should also provide Chelsea with a timely reminder of precisely what Enzo Maresca's ambitious project is still missing; experience and know-how of the highest quality.

Under the Clearlake Capital regime, the big-spending Blues have signed young, exciting prospects in droves and while they're now on the cusp of securing the return of Champions League football - Chelsea are still lacking the mettle, guile, grit and wisdom required to compete for the biggest prizes.

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Club sources have refused to disclose whether there is an official under-25 transfer policy in place at Stamford Bridge but given the Blues were willing to make a play for Van Dijk - had he not agreed a contract extension at Anfield - there now appears to be a degree of flexibility on the profiles of potential arrivals.

Although it was perhaps fanciful to consider the imperious Dutchman swapping Liverpool red for Chelsea blue, a leader of the 33-year-old's ilk and calibre has been missing since the departure of Thiago Silva last June.

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Furthermore, there is also an argument that despite spending over £1.2billion on transfers since the arrival of Todd Boehly, Chelsea are still yet to acquire a world-class goalkeeper, central defender or striker - burning issues that must finally be addressed this summer.

Slowly but surely, Maresca has crafted a spine that is capable of being built around but if Chelsea are to make the next steps in their development, they need a series of difference-makers, like Liverpool, that can elevate the level of the entire team.

Prodigies that are likely to explode in the future remain valuable assets but the Blues already have enough of those - Brazilian wonderkid Estevao, Dario Essugo and Kendry Paez officially sign in this summer - and Maresca has recently indicated amid fan unrest that he will strive to recruit some much-needed experience to aid his pursuit of silverware(

Enzo Maresca is itching to add more experience to his Chelsea squad.

I see that.”

If Liverpool currently represent the benchmark, it's clear forward-thinking Chelsea have to make key changes to bridge the gap at the top of the Premier League.

Supporters want to see improvement and so far, Clearlake Capital's vision appears to be some distance away from bearing fruit given their long-running pursuit of Champions League football looks destined to go to the wire.

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