Ever since the Todd Boehly era began at Chelsea last month there has been much made about how things were about to change at Stamford Bridge.
Boehly's vision, it has been said, is to try and mirror much of the work that has been done by Fenway Sports Group at Liverpool, bringing a more streamlined approach to recruitment, focusing heavily on analytics in a bid to reduce the risk attached to bringing in new players, and delivering a new wage structure more akin to what the Reds have in place.
FSG are 12 years in to their Liverpool tenure. There have been mistakes and missteps along the way, but in terms of the improvement on and off the field since their arrival it is undeniably better. The Reds go into the new season on the back of a campaign where they were pipped to the Premier League title in the last 15 minutes of the season, where they were beaten finalists in the Champions League and where they lifted both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
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There were issues that needed addressing this summer, most notably that of Mohamed Salah's new deal. Salah is staying, and while the club have lost Sadio Mane they have brought in Darwin Nunez for a fee that could be as high as £85m. Then there are signings for the future, the likes of Calvin Ramsey and Fabio Carvalho. The lack of an addition to midfield, some younger legs in the elite category, has caused concern for some but it is highly likely that is the area of focus next summer for a major arrival.
For FSG now it is about sanctioning larger deals, smaller in quantity. The team in place at Anfield that have had such a remarkable success rate are able to identify areas, spend time considering their recruitment and the data behind it before making the decision to spend the money. It is adding talent in areas to try and ensure continued growth and success but within the framework of a wage bill and transfer budget that falls in line with what the club earn in revenues as a successful business, a profit making when you strip away the impact of the pandemic.
Boehly apparently wanted some of the same at Chelsea. He wanted to pick the best bits from what FSG do at Liverpool and make his own mark. But FSG are over a decade into this and have had time to refine what they do, they also provided a significant amount of time and money at the start of their reign to put in place a recruitment strategy and the right staff to utilise the data in the right way. According to Dr Ian Graham, Liverpool's director of research, more than a year was given for them to fine tune the department to get to where they wanted it to be.
So are Chelsea really intent on following Liverpool's model?
The early decision to send £100m flop Romelu Lukaku packing on loan back to Inter Milan in order to save a chunk on wages suggested that may well be the case, but Boehly has since placed himself in the role as interim sporting director, quite the task for someone who had no previous experience in football prior to his acquisition of Chelsea.
Of course, in negotiations his skill set will likely be extremely relevant, but in the lack of experienced hands Chelsea run the risk of already faltering in their bid to become like FSG, and their end game of surpassing them.
Reports in the Athletic this week claimed that Boehly and super agent Jorge Mendes had met last month, with the future of Mendes' star client, Cristiano Ronaldo, among the key topics discussed.
Ronaldo, 37, is said to be itching to get away from Manchester United. Having signed last summer and received a hero's welcome upon his return to the club where he burst on to the scene back in 2003, Ronaldo, while still providing a valuable contribution through his 18 goals in 30 Premier League games, was unable to help United claim a top four spot as they spluttered to the finish line after a dismal campaign full of tumult. Sixth place, 35 points behind title winners Manchester City and having to settle for the Europa League is not deemed a success in the eyes of the Old Trafford faithful.
Ronaldo doesn't want to be away from the Champions League in his twilight years and is understood to be assessing his options in England and abroad. But with wages of £500,000 per week, even with a pay cut it would be a hard pill to swallow for many clubs across Europe, particularly given many have already pulled the trigger on their major summer business.
Chelsea, as yet, haven't. Boehly is reported to be enamoured with the idea of Ronaldo at Stamford Bridge, but while he would undoubtedly provide goals, does having him in the team mean they are being lead by the best way to get the best out of Ronaldo, or the best way forward for the future? Is it about short term success and something of an espresso shot to commercial business through his enduring global appeal, or do they really think that the signing of a 37-year-old striker on wages more than Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah from a team that finished sixth is truly the best way to shape a new era?
Liverpool have managed to thrive under FSG, and most notably the remarkable managerial and man management skills of Jurgen Klopp, by signing players whose reputation and standing in the game has not peaked. Salah is a global star now but was he when he was at Chelsea or Roma? No, he wasn't, not even close. The same can be said of Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Luis Diaz and Andrew Robertson, and it is hoped that the likes of Nunez and Carvalho can follow in the future.
When you sign a global superstar who holds more power than the club, which Ronaldo has pretty much done ever since he left Manchester United for the first time in 2009, you are beholden to them. They dominate any project that you may want to implement and, if we are being honest, are there to cement their own individual legacy rather than overly concerning themselves about what the future looks like after them at the club.
If Ronaldo helps Boehly achieve another one of his aims in terms of growing commercial revenues then maybe they view that as a success. If it helps them get closer to Manchester City and Liverpool at home and abroad next season on the pitch then maybe that also might be seen as a success. But a Ronaldo addition seems like it is something that would only serve to show that the Boehly era isn't really intent on adopting a longer term strategy to mirror Liverpool and grow to achieve sustained and sustainable success. It would be a quick hit, a sideshow.
If Boehly really wanted to demonstrate his reputation of being 'ahead of the curve' when it comes to analytics then its hard to imagine a deal like this finds a place in a new era that was serious about adopting the same kind of strategy as Liverpool, especially when the head coach may still take some convincing.
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