Avram Grant began his coaching career running the youth sides at Hapoel Petah Tikva, his local team, so he speaks with some authority when comparing the Chelsea first-team squad unfavourably to “a children’s team”. Grant, the former Israel coach, who was sacked as Chelsea first-team coach by Roman Abramovich, the owner, in May, made the disparaging comparison on an Israeli television station this week.

“The level of performance at Chelsea is very high, the players perform at a high level and so are their salaries,” Grant said. “But some of the players there have problems that you can’t find at a children’s team.” Which could explain why Grant was accused last season of allowing Henk ten Cate, the assistant coach, to treat the players like kids.

Grant said that Abramovich arranged for him to learn about English football as technical director at Portsmouth before taking a similar role at Chelsea, adding that the Russian did not want to dismiss him but was given no choice by other elements within the club. Given the Russian’s financial control of the club, the clear suggestion is that the influence of certain senior players was behind his removal. “He thought I should stay but in this team the owner doesn’t take all the decisions,” Grant said.

Grant, 53, also criticised Nicolas Anelka, the France forward, who was signed from Bolton Wanderers in January for £15 million, but played a peripheral part in Grant’s team selections. “I didn’t really need Anelka last season and I told him so,” Grant said. “He is a very good player, but needs to have more passion.”

Anelka scored only one league goal under Grant, earning Chelsea one point. Under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Grant’s successor, Anelka has become the top scorer in the Premier League, with 13 league goals, and has contributed two more in the Champions League.

Grant claimed that, at Chelsea, he had been in talks with Kaká, with a view to signing the Brazil playmaker from AC Milan, and was also interested in Franck Ribéry, the Bayern Munich and France midfield player. “I wanted to sign Franck Ribéry and Kaká because I thought Chelsea should play a bit different,” he said. “\ is the best player in the world and I had negotiations with him, but it fell through.”

Chelsea have sent a blunt message to the club’s players after rejecting speculation that Alex, the Brazil defender, has submitted a transfer request. A statement from the club read: “Chelsea would like to make clear that no transfer request has been received from any player. Chelsea will decide the future of any contracted player in the best interests of the club.”

Milan and Seville are interested in the £10 million-rated player, who is believed to be frustrated by his lack of first-team involvement.