In the second part of our exclusive interview with Desailly, the French legend spoke to Tolga Akdeniz about his former clubs Chelsea, AC Milan and Marseille's struggles and what they need to do to get back on track.
You can also read part one of our exclusive with Desailly on the World Cup here!
Chelsea are having a really tough time and endured a difficult season, and there is sometimes a feeling that the owners aren't completely sure of what they're doing and their plan is erratic. Do you think the arrival of Xabi Alonso as manager will change things for the better?
"These owners bought the club for a couple of billion. Then they've spent billions on players to bring them into a system. So they had a plan. They had a plan, guys.
"They decided that they were going to buy young players, talented players. To buy them, they had to pay more than their value. But for them, they said, "Okay, being in our system, the expression of their talent in the system, the price will now later on match with their values."
"So the first year was no good. The second year was not good. The third year, bingo. They won the Conference League. And they won the Club World Cup. Bingo. Most of the players that they brought very expensively were at that moment matching the price that they brought them for.
"The problem is that they probably didn't listen to the coach (Enzo Maresca). They did not fit an experienced player into the system. They were in need of three experienced players to handle the Premier League demand.
"The Premier League demands that every time you play at high speed, you need to read the game, you need to understand the game. How to slow down, how to accelerate. So this is the problem that they had. They did not listen to their coach because of the season they had.
"Because that was the key. An experienced goalkeeper, a defensive player who is up to the level. Stop using (Enzo) Fernandez as the playmaker of the team. No! He's a defensive midfielder. Very intelligent. (Moises) Caicedo needs him on his side to be able to read and understand.
"Put an experienced striker, a guy who is first choice in his national team, who can really read the game. And (Cole) Palmer needs to develop with the killer and winning mentality. If things go badly, does he really feel the pain? Does he really understand the kind of talent that he has? He could be a Ballon d'Or winner.
"So you need leaders in the system. This is what I think about, over and over. Chelsea, on the tactical side, their use of the players, the talents, there is no doubt. Just those little touches under Maresca that they did not do. Whatever coach you put in the system will be exactly the same. In the Premier League, it is not enough. You'll be on and off."
You have been vocal in your criticism of Chelsea. Are the current problems rooted in the squad itself?
"It is, for sure. So, let's see what they are going to do. Also, when they had (Mauricio) Pochettino, for example, it was a good choice. He's a good coach. No doubt about that. But you give him young players that you have to raise. Pochettino doesn't want to take care of the players as if he's coaching the academy. He wants top players.
"So you've already lost a bit of time, because the tools that you were giving him were not good. You understand? So, Alonso today is the perfect coach. Even though in Madrid, he was not able to put his philosophy in place, because that's the spirit of Madrid.
"You cannot come and mention anything anyhow. You have the ego of the players, which was probably for him a real challenge, making them adapt to his philosophy.
"You don't have (Luka) Modric anymore, you don't have (Toni) Kroos anymore to stabilise the team a little bit. So he was lost, and it's fair enough. But for Chelsea, it's spot on.
"Spot on because he can handle the young players or inexperienced players. He has shown it at Bayer Leverkusen. And if he's clever enough to top the team up with what we were saying before - with experienced players - then we'll see Chelsea again next season.
"The only problem that we have today is that Chelsea has to solve the matter of the number of players that they have in the system.
"So when you have Alonso, and he's telling you, 'Look, I'm going to play three at the back. This is my philosophy; the players that are there today do not match my philosophy. I need to change to (Wesley) Fofana, who did quite well this season, or (Trevoh) Chalobah. He's a good player, but he doesn't match me playing a three, or sometimes switching from three to four.'
"So again, Chelsea have to review the group of players that they have to match with the philosophy of that coach who needs adjusting. Each coach who has been able to choose his players one by one has been successful. Luis Enrique, (Pep) Guardiola, (Hansi) Flick."
Like Chelsea, another one of your former clubs, AC Milan, are also struggling to return to the top. They missed out on the Champions League, and there was an overhaul: Massimiliano Allegri was sacked, along with the CEO, technical director, and sporting director. Was it necessary to go that far? What are your thoughts?
"How many Italians do you have in the team? They need stability. They need a foundation.
"You brought a coach that, technically, has this winning mentality, but unfortunately, you have to deal with a (Rafael) Leao who is on and off, and Christian Pulisic is on and off also. Modric comes into the system to try to stabilise a little bit. He did okay, but it's not enough. No winning mentality in the individuals.
"There's no killer mentality with the foundation that AC Milan need, with the history that they have. They have to review part of the squad that they have.
"We were a good team, but we had a lot of Italians. They were really the foundations to create an era. All of them were international-calibre players. Also, Milan now does not benefit from the top players who might be in the national team.
"We say Italians like to stay in their country, fine. So it means that between Juventus, Inter Milan, Napoli, and AC Milan, there should be top players of the Italian national team. But they don't benefit from that. They are almost only foreigners without the winning mentality for Milan.
"So it's a real problem in the system. It's a real problem. So I was talking about that AC Milan team with (Alessandro) Nesta, (Paolo) Maldini, (Andrea) Pirlo, (Filippo) Inzaghi, and many more. (Massimo) Ambrosini, (Gennaro) Gattuso. You see?
"The spirit was there. You have the foundation. You speak Italian in the dressing room. You don't speak English. You see? And you are really committed.
"They are committed, but it is part of the little details, you know? Sometimes, in football, it's about details and spirit. That makes the difference for the overall performance."
Do you think Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the right person to get AC Milan back to its glory?
"I think he has the potential, but it is a reflection of the national team also. They are not performing; there's no more leadership. Inter did well this season - not in the Champions League - but at least at the league level. But there's a lack of Italians.
"The perfect example is Leao. Will you go to the war with Leao? You know he has the skills, but will you go to war? No. So he needs to be pushed.
"If he's the one who is the leader, it's a problem. He has to be, you know, pushed. In the national team, you will see Leao, because they have Vitinha, Cristiano (Ronaldo), (Nuno) Mendes, and many more; you see a different spirit.
"But when he's the first choice in the system, it becomes a problem. It's a perfect example of the spirit of Milan. The leadership should be given to other people. He's talented and he should rely on this talent, but he can never be a leader.
"I don't know his (Ibrahimovic) position really. I don't know his influence. Unless you are inside the system, you don't really understand. I don't know, really, his power in saying, 'Okay, look, next season we get rid of this one, this one, this one.'
"When he does his presentation to the board, does he do the presentation to the board of, 'Look, I believe that aside from what the coach is thinking, this is my belief. We have four or five players that are not matching with the philosophy and the leadership that we are having, and we should bring more Italians, which we don't find.'
"That is the problem of being able to have Milan back at the level that. So yes, I will say that he is the correct man, but does Milan give him the power to be able to make those kinds of decisions? Like back in the days, Ariedo Braida. Ariedo Braida was the sports director of Milan.
"He bought all the players into the system. When I left, Gattuso came. When (Frank) Rijkaard left, Desailly came. You see? They really have the understanding and the power to make the decision"
Another one of your former teams have made the headlines: Marseille! You were critical of the players recently at the Laureus Awards, and you supported the comments made by Medhi Benatia, the former football director at the club. Do you regret his departure and what are your overall thoughts?
"I was not critical of the players. I just approved what Benatia was saying. You lose a game, be sad, be annoyed, be committed. Do you understand? And, from that perspective, I was okay with what he said. We will miss him, yes, because he tried strongly. But there is an element that they need to consider.
"Marseille, Napoli, where else can I find? Maybe Galatasaray. It's a club that when you buy the player, the player has to have a strong ability to handle pressure in the match because his lifestyle changes. When he goes to town, he will be harassed in a certain way. The Napoli way, the Galatasaray way, the Marseille way.
"Plus, his own responsibility to develop and to perform. You see? So this is the problem. You have players who cannot handle the external pressure that Marseille gives. The fans, the supporters. Yeah, everywhere is the same. But Marseille is a little bit different. I played there. You have extra pressure.
"There is also an element in Marseille, people talk a lot, wrong information comes all over, all the time. Fake and good. So it's an element that distracts and disturbs the players if they are not upper grade, if they are not players that, you know, can handle it.
"And that's why I think their performance, at the beginning of the season, they were great. They were second in the table. And suddenly, you started to be on and off. (Robert) De Zerbi, who is a good coach, may have been too smart for Marseille eventually.
"De Zerbi wanted to change tactics, wanted to change the position of the players. Too smart eventually for Marseille, who needs stability in the coach position, and handle the pressure of it. This is key.
"The next team that the management builds, they have to consider the idea of how does this player handle the pressure?"