Todd Boehly is only a month into his time with Chelsea, but he has already made a major impact after taking over from Roman Abramovich.
Stamford Bridge has been a hive of activity since Boehly and his consortium of backers officially took over from Abramovich on May 30. Abramovich’s allies, chairman Bruce Buck and director Marina Granovskaia, have been pushed out , while technical and performance director Petr Cech recently followed suit .
While influential people are departing Chelsea, there now looks set to be an influx of arrivals too, with Boehly beginning to ramp up the club’s transfer business. The American billionaire and his financial backers Clearlake Capital have reportedly made £200million available to bolster Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the 2022/23 season.
Chelsea are beginning to make serious moves in the summer transfer window. With Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen gone on free transfers, and Romelu Lukaku out of the way, having joined Inter Milan on a season-long loan , the focus has now turned to new arrivals.
First of all that means the signing of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City. With Lukaku gone, Sterling became Chelsea’s priority summer signing as he enters the final year of his £300,000-a-week City contract. Man City want £55m for his signature and talks have progressed well over the past week or so.
Another headline-making deal is also in the works for Leeds United winger Raphinha. The Brazil winger is also being pursued by Arsenal and Barcelona – who haven’t given up the chase yet – but the Blues are believed to be in pole position, having agreed a £55m deal with Leeds.
There are plenty more transfers in the making, too. With Rudiger and Christensen gone, central defence is a priority for Tuchel and Chelsea have therefore been linked with just about every top-class centre-back in Europe. Matthijs de Ligt is one of them, and Mirror Football understands that the Dutch defender is keen to push through a move to Stamford Bridge. The only potential problem is his price tag of £70m, which is high, despite being over £30m less than his official £102m buyout clause.
Sevilla’s Jules Kounde has long been linked with Chelsea, while Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar is also of interest, but would cost £55m. Meanwhile, Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has emerged as an alternative for around £40m. Then there’s Ousmane Dembele – the Barcelona winger who could join Chelsea upon the expiry of his Barcelona contract.
It’s a complicated and ever-changing picture, but one which does show the ambition of Boehly and his fellow investors in Chelsea. Players like Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Kepa Arrizabalaga and others could well be sold to help fund the recruitment drive, but there will still be some major expenditure in west London.
The situation bears some resemblance to the summer of 2003 when Abramovich splashed out in the transfer market after taking over the club from Ken Bates. The Russian oligarch completed the takeover in July 2003 after paying £140m for the club. At the time Abramovich was not a well-known figure in the UK. That was about to change , thanks to football.
Chelsea went transfer crazy in the summer window, recruiting 11 players , ranging from Premier League regulars to superstar players from around Europe. Damien Duff, Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo, Adrian Mutu and Claude Makelele were the headline-grabbers in a summer spending spree the likes of which had never seen before in English football.
Roman Abramovich’s first 11 signings in summer of 2003:
Glen Johnson (£6m, West Ham )
Geremi (£7m, Real Madrid )
Wayne Bridge (£7m, Southampton )
Damien Duff (£17m, Blackburn Rovers)
Joe Cole (£6.6m, West Ham)
Juan Sebastian Veron (£15m, Manchester United )
Adrian Mutu (£15.8m, Parma)
Alexey Smertin (£3.45m, Bordeaux)
Hernan Crespo (£16.8m, Inter Milan)
Neil Sullivan (£500,000, Tottenham )
Claude Makelele (£16.8m, Real Madrid)
Total: £111.95m
