Todd Boehly Chelsea transfer promise creates Michael…

Todd Boehly Chelsea transfer promise creates Michael Edwards opportunity on one condition

Out of the latest statement from Chelsea on Wednesday morning, the most eye-catching part was the use of the term "sporting director", a role co-owner and new chairman Todd Boehly will take up on an interim basis until the Club names a full-time replacement.

A role that supporters have theorised about filling for several years finally has the official endorsement and is the first signal of the shift in transfer structure that is about to unfold.

Who will eventually take that position is mere speculation at this time. Michael Edwards, Ramon Planes, Paul Mitchell and Andrea Berta have all been named in recent months. The appointment will likely not be confirmed until after this transfer window.

For the short term, the aim will be for Boehly and Thomas Tuchel to secure the desired targets before the end of the summer transfer window with tons to accomplish.

But moving beyond the next two months, whoever takes up the sporting director position must help resolve previous errors that have negatively affected the general outlook on Chelsea's recent strategy.

In the main, there needs to be a greater appreciation of the club's elite academy. The promotion of that talent into the first team. The short and long-term benefits of internal solutions and the financial incentive to do so.

The exodus of 2021 that saw Marc Guehi, Tino Livramento, Lewis Bate, Myles Peart-Harris, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham all leave felt like a step backwards. It was a trend-setting summer in the worst way. It gave encouragement to other clubs about nabbing Chelsea's promising talent at a low fee and for those players to instantly gain Premier League minutes.

In July 2021, the £20m fee Crystal Palace paid for Guehi was framed as a good deal for a player with no top-flight minutes. In under six months, it did not. Guehi could go for double that, maybe more if he continues to grow.

The same for Tomori, a £25m fee paid by AC Milan for a player who became integral to their Scudetto win last season. Do I need to mention Tammy? We can delve into that one another time.

And I am sure many will be thinking of the reasons why all of these departures happened. Contracts expiring, coach preferences or some of the young talent simply was not good enough, to begin with.

You are entitled to that view, though the question heading into the new era should pose whether a more coherent transfer structure could be implemented to mitigate these problems from repeating in the next five years.

Todd Boehly will takeover as chairman of Chelsea and interim sporting director ((Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images))

Chelsea will not be able to keep every single player, young or old. There will always be those who move on, fall short or see their futures elsewhere. However, you cannot get away from the theory the lack of long-term planning under the previous regime led to these chaotic outcomes.

And just while we are here, for those of us who champion a better implementation of the academy into the first-team, no one has ever argued for a whole squad of academy talent.

One of a few tiring strawman arguments that are regurgitated to dismiss any critique of the club or questioning as to whether we are maximising what probably is the most productive academy in world football.

A new sporting director needs to appreciate the blessing Cobham has been and can continue to be. Overseeing a plan of how young talent can realistically see a route into first-team opportunities – not a guarantee or a god-given right, every player still has to earn it.

Though a route that more often than not can save the club money to place into elite new signings whilst supplementing the squad with priceless talent who have gained experience on loan or have stood out in their age group.

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