While Chelsea won the Club World Cup over the summer, Desailly says the Premier League is a different matter.
“The Premier League is super difficult,” he told the London Evening Standard. “You need to have experienced players in your squad, because you have to play at some grounds that are difficult. Your squad has to be ready for the battle.
“I believe that the intensity of the Premier League will not allow them to have the required consistency to be able to win. Look what happened to Liverpool at home against Manchester United. Liverpool are tactically stable, won the league, and then got hammered by United. So it is difficult to keep that consistency and gain enough points.
“So I think Chelsea are still building up and surely you need to have that super player — a famous player with good stats to be able to be that addition that Chelsea is looking for, to eventually win that Premier League title. Not the Club World Cup, not the Conference League, the Premier League. It is something different.
“They had a good season last season. But I'm not sure they are ready to be able to compete to win the Premier League.”