JAMIE CARRAGHER apologised to Chelsea supporters after criticising the club's approach to bringing in youth talent.
The Liverpool legend suggested the Blues' academy's achievements were due to them poaching ‘the best players from every club within the country’.
And the Sky Sports pundit, 44, faced an instant backlash from fans.
On the club’s youth achievements he said: “They win the youth cup every year Chelsea, or they get in the final, not because they’ve got the best coaches or the best coaches or the best academy.
“Because they’ve gone and taken the best players from every club within the country and relocate the family and give the dad a scouting job.”
However, some Blues fans took to social media in disagreement with Carragher’s points about their academy.
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One account tweeted: “Don’t disagree with your points about Kenyan, Gerrard, Cole, but respectfully, the Academy part was wrong.”
In response via his Twitter account, the Anfield hero wrote: “Apologies, I got a little emotional.”
Carragher, was speaking during a discussion concerning the sale of Chelsea and the government freezing the assets of Blues owner Roman Abramovich.
The pundit revealed he had “heated discussions” with Chelsea fans outside Stamford Bridge after the club’s defeat of Newcastle.
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Carragher faced criticism from supporters for suggesting Manchester United should attempt to recruit Thomas Tuchel following the challenges facing the club.
The former England centre-back suggested Chelsea ‘had been throwing’ their money around to get who they wanted over the years.
On Sky Sports Monday Night Football, during his response to the criticism Carragher said: “Chelsea have doing it for 20 years. We can throw our money about and get who we want.
“We’re going to go to Manchester United and get Peter Kenyon (their chief executive).
“We’ll go to Liverpool and try and take the best midfield player in Europe (Steven Gerrard) and destabilise that club for two summers.
“We’ll get Ashley Cole, invincible, won everything at Arsenal, we’ll go and get him. We’ll get caught tapping up, doesn’t matter, we’ll pay the fine.”
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Chelsea, who have won 23 major trophies in the past 25 years, have faced days of turmoil following the government’s sanctions imposed on them Thursday 10 March
Since then, restrictions on the club have seen them banned from conducting transfer-related activity and selling merchandise in their shop.