England boss Fabio Capello says Premiership clubs failed in this season's Champions League because they simply sold their best players last summer.

The Italian believes none of the top four improved on last season - including Chelsea.

"It is always better to have players who have been winning than ones who are unhappy because of the national championship or Champions League went wrong," he told Eurosport.

"But Liverpool sold players and those who arrived didn't meet the expectations. Arsenal were unlucky because they also sold some players, didn't get any others and important ones who were left were injured at key moments.

"Manchester United sold Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez and the players they got instead are maybe not as good. Chelsea did buy Zhirkov, but nothing more.

"None of those teams strengthened. In England, only Manchester City did. In Italy, Inter Milan bought six players.

"If you sell your good players, obviously you will get a lot of money, but you have to buy other players to strengthen your team.

"Maybe because of the financial crisis, this clearly didn't happen."