Chaos at Chelsea: A high-risk, $1.3B spending spree has left the club fractured and vulnerable

LONDON: In the years to come, the experiment unfolding at 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.

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 20 players “training apart,” Maresca said. Among them is striker Romelu Lukaku, signed three years ago for a then-club record of $135 million, and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, the world's most expensive keeper signed for $92 million.

Not much seemingly makes sense in Chelsea's brave new era that has so far brought underwhelming Premier League finishes in 12th and then sixth place last season.

“It's been a crazy one to follow so far,” Dr. Dan Plumley, sports finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, told The Associated Press, “and it shows no sign of slowing down.”

Plumley said the Chelsea owners' initial “aggressive” play in the transfer market to overhaul the squad was not unexpected, even if spending $280 million in the summer of 2022, $350 million in January 2023 and more than $400 million in the offseason of that year was unprecedented for a soccer club. In the current window, the outlay is more than $250 million on 10 players.

“You are thinking, That's the initial burst but now you have to rein it in a little bit,'” Plumley said in a phone interview. “But they seem to be carrying on, which raises a few question marks around what the actual strategy is there and what are the owners looking to do.”

With their background in private equity and venture capital, Boehly and Clearlake are coming at soccer ownership very differently and have moved the goalposts in their efforts when dealing with the sport's financial fair-play constraints.

They've typically given contracts of seven-to-nine years to new signings to spread “amortization” costs of transfer fees across the whole deal. That prompted UEFA and then the Premier League to tighten their rules, and it's a risky strategy as a whole because it leaves Chelsea extremely vulnerable if the players recruited prove to be flops and can't be moved on.

They've focused on selling homegrown or academy players, essentially because they can be sold for pure profit in the annual accounts which facilitates the purchase of other more high-profile players on amortized deals. Hence the departures of Conor Gallagher, the team's vice-captain last season, this week and those of youngsters like Ian Maatsen, Lewis Hall and Omari Hutchinson late in the last financial year to balance the books in a way some find unseemly.

According to the most recent accounts, Chelsea's owners reportedly sold two hotels at Stamford Bridge to another company they own — a deal that is being scrutinized by the Premier League. They've also been looking at selling a stake in their successful women's team to raise money.

Plumley said Chelsea's strategy has left the club “very close … if not over” the limit of the Premier League's profit and sustainability regulations. That might mean the team is liable to potential future points deductions, as suffered by Everton and Nottingham Forest last season.

It doesn't help Chelsea that it isn't currently in the lucrative men's Champions League, which deprives the club of approaching $100 million a season.

“It was high-risk at the start and it's still high-risk now,” Plumley said of the methods of Chelsea's owners. “There's a whole manner of things that could create problems down the road.”

In the short term, however, the biggest problem lies at the door of Maresca, an inexperienced manager who has to deal with a bloated squad containing an increasing number of frustrated players who Chelsea is keen to offload, such as established internationals Lukaku, Sterling and Ben Chilwell.

“I'm working with 21 players. The other 15 or 20, they are training apart,” Maresca said. “They are Chelsea players, but they are not working with me. I don't see them.”

So much for creating a strong squad dynamic in a Premier League season that started with a 2-0 loss to Manchester City. Maresca's team beat Servette 2-0 on Thursday in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League playoff. On Sunday, it's back to the Premier League with a trip to Wolverhampton.