Chaos at Chelsea: A high-risk, $1.3B spending spree has left the club fractured and vulnerable
Chelsea under their American investors will be a fascinating case study about running a soccer club. Because no one in England or beyond has ever seen anything like what has been happening at Stamford Bridge over the last two years.
Just take this in: Chelsea has spent nearly $1.3 billion on 39 players across five transfer windows since a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the Premier League club from its long-time owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, for $3.2 billion in May 2022.
Throw in the club having four different full-time managers in this period — plus another coach on a temporary basis — and the revolving door at Chelsea, a six-time English champion and two-time European champion, simply hasn't stopped spinning.
«It's not a mess like it looks from the outside,» Enzo Maresca, the latest Chelsea manager, said Wednesday as he attempted to explain the wisdom behind taking the number of players in the squad to 43 by signing two wingers — Pedro Neto and Joao Felix — for a combined $130 million over the past week.
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This while already having five wingers in the squad, including one — Mykhailo Mudryk — signed for more than $100 million just last year and another — Raheem Sterling — who was the first signing of this unprecedented two-year trolley dash for nearly $60 million.
Sterling has been stripped of his squad number following the arrival of Neto and is one of around
