Only two miles separate Stamford Bridge and Craven Cottage but Chelsea and Fulham inhabit different worlds. It is a one-sided rivalry – Fulham have finished above their west London neighbours once in the past 41 years – and there are few similarities in the way the clubs go about their business.
The contrast when it comes to recruitment is striking. While Chelsea’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, have invested more than £1bn in their unique model of buying promising young players on long and heavily incentivised contracts, Fulham have used their smaller budget to implement an unglamorous approach that nonetheless has them set to enjoy another season making a lot out of a little.
