It's been quite the introduction to life at Chelsea for Todd Boehly. The US businessman fronted a group including Clearlake Capital to take ownership of the Blues from Roman Abramovich and swiftly found himself in the midst of a crucial transfer window for the club.
With preparations hit by sanctions and the departure of key players such as Antonio Rudiger, it was always going to be a difficult summer for the Blues. Boehly, as well as becoming the club's chairman, was named sporting director as Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech departed the club in the wake of the takeover. With the assistance of Thomas Tuchel, the American has firmly been in control of Chelsea's transfer business and has met with a number of executives around Europe, alongside Behdad Eghbali.
The Blues have landed Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling, Carney Chukwuemeka and Marc Cucurella this summer but Gary Neville has been unimpressed with the number of targets Chelsea have been publically linked to over the last month. The former Manchester United defender believes Boehly would have been better served keeping the likes of Granovskaia in place.
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Neville said on The Overlap: “The American guy [Todd] Boehly, looks like he wants to play Football Manager He’s wandering around a little bit and they’re a bit panicky now. They’re almost like bouncing around because it feels like he has to do something. You’re wondering, ‘Oh they’re coming in for [Frenkie] de Jong this morning’, because he feels like he has to do something, that pressure is on him.
“He wouldn’t have had that pressure if he’d have kept the people that have been there before and just let them operate for a year or two, but it’ll be an interesting season for Chelsea.”
Posed with the idea that Chelsea were panicking, Tuchel put forward a defence for the club's hierarchy in his press conference ahead of Everton. The German coach had particular praise for the work rate of Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
He said: "Panicking? No, I would describe it as super hard working and learning while on the job, new on the job. It's pretty much going on, new ownership and then stepping into the transfer market is maybe one of the toughest things you can do when you come from outside. I have nothing but the biggest respect and compliments for both Todd and Behdad. I don't know when they sleep, I think maybe they never sleep. We have a very honest, very open, very direct line of communication and the transfer so far speak for themselves. We have a delay, nobody is guilty for that delay. We have a delay because of the sanctions and the sanctions led to the loss of key players. Both of the owners who are involved in the daily business have done a fantastic job so far and the transfer market speaks for itself."
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