Chelsea FC’s Kamikaze Transfer Spending Will Be Short-Lived

The ink was barely dry on his take-over of Chelsea owner when Todd Boehly started talking about change.

The Roman Abramovich era at the club, which was defined by spending and silverware in equal measure, was over.

This new American regime was focused on using its knowledge of sports business in the US to improve earning potential in London, but it also wanted to curb expenditure.

“We think the global footprint of this sport is really undeveloped,” Boehly told the SuperReturn International conference in Berlin.

“There are four billion fans of European [soccer and] 170 million fans of NFL [but] global club [soccer] is a fraction of the NFL media money.

“So I think there is an opportunity to capture some of that American mentality into English sports and really develop them.”

Besides, Boehly pointed out, new regulations would make the spending of the past impossible.

“Financial fair play is starting to get some teeth and that will limit the ability to acquire players at any price,” he added.

“UEFA takes it seriously and will continue to take it seriously. [More teeth] means financial penalties and disqualification from sporting competitions.”

But some $330 million and 15 signings later, his words ring a little hollow.

Mykhailo Mudryk is the latest talent to join the West London team for a fee reported to be more than $100 million.

Clubs who do business in January for such fees are normally considered desperate. But with Joao Felix already acquired on loan for the remainder of the season and potentially another mega-deal deal for World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez on the way, Chelsea could be challenging some of the biggest mid-season splurges of all time.

Mudryk and Felix are undoubtedly talented, but it’s hard not to wonder why further diminutive attacking players have been signed when there are such obvious shortfalls in other parts of the squad.

The Blues already had Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz on its books who can play in the same positions as the two new players.

Meanwhile, at fullback, the club continues to rely on academy products to fill the gaps left by long-term absentees Ben Chilwell and Reece James.

Equally, after letting both Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku leave in the summer, striking options have been considerably lacking with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failing to impress since joining from Barcelona.

Short term approach

The criticism of Chelsea’s transfers has not just been that they’ve been expensive, the profile of many of the players has suggested a short-term approach.

Its three flagship acquisitions in the summer, Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kalidou Koulibaly, are both closer to 30 than 20 and are unlikely to get better than they already are.

“You’re talking about a club that spent $300 million on top of the team last season and we’re talking about them not bringing in winners or the right players,” former Liverpool turned pundit Jamie Carragher scoffed after another disappointing.

“I thought Chelsea was in a great position. With Thomas Tuchel, they won the Champions League but they also got to every possible cup final he could possibly get to. They finished third behind the two best teams in the world – that’s fair to call Liverpool and Manchester City that.

“To go from where they were – and I remember them playing Liverpool in the two cup finals and they were very good – and to spend $300 million and be further away [from Liverpool and City] is just baffling.”

According to a Daily Mail interview with agent Saif Rubie, who was pictured with Boehly at a recent game and has represented the club in the past, the new leadership blamed the previous owners for the outlay and regression.

Rubie claimed not only had players like Marc Guehi and Fikayo Tomori been allowed to leave and subsequently developed into international-level talents under Abramovich, he alleged they had pushed out established stars like Antonio Rudiger by lowballing them in contract negotiations.

“When I spoke to the new regime, I said ‘the old regime cost you [$122 million]’,” Rubie told the Mail “Do you know what they said to me? ‘More’.’

“The new regime had to come and pick up the pieces of decisions that were made by the old regime,” he added.

Change on the horizon

Long-term the indications are the club wants to do its business differently.

High-profile manager Thomas Tuchel has been replaced by Graham Potter, a man with no experience at the elite level, but a track record for improving players and building club projects.

The new manager is believed to be involved in the recruitment process with another two new hires; Christopher Vivell, an ex-RB Leipzig technical director who previously led scouting at Red Bull Salzburg, and former Brighton head of recruitment Paul Winstanley, who Potter knows well.

Neither has a track record of spending big or buying the profile of player Chelsea has tended to capture so far.

So you would imagine going forward things will change.

That could also mean the acquisition of another club or two by the owners, both Brighton and the Red Bull group use a network of teams to develop talent.

“We’ve talked about having a multi-club model,” Boehly has said in the past, “I would love to continue to build out the footprint.

“I think that there are different countries where there are advantages to having a club.

“The challenge Chelsea has right now is that when you have 18, 19, 20-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to other clubs, but you put their development in someone else’s hands.”