As Chelsea close in on breaking the £1billion barrier under Todd Boehly, there is still no obvious end to the excess in sight.
By the time they next play, the Blues might have made a new signing for every working day this week, with Moises Caicedo already through the door for a British-record £115million from Brighton and Southampton’s Romeo Lavia and Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise close to following. They are also targeting a back-up goalkeeper and another forward.
The numbers are staggering, and the signing of Lavia, who will cost an initial £53m, will take Boehly’s spending on midfielders alone past £300m, also considering the deals for Enzo Fernandez, Lesley Ugochukwu and Andrey Santos. In total, Boehly has spent more at Chelsea than the whole of La Liga in the same period.
Most Chelsea supporters are revelling in their business, particularly beating Liverpool to the signings of Lavia and Caicedo, but it is still unclear if Boehly and Co are successfully gaming the system or building a ticking timebomb.
Chelsea believe their unique transfer strategy falls in line with Financial Fair Play rules — having amortised their extravagant transfer fees over the period of some long contracts and sold well, with others due to leave this summer — but the potential pitfalls of their strategy still feel widely under-appreciated.
Buying the best young players in Europe and trusting them to Mauricio Pochettino, a brilliant coach and builder of teams, makes sense, but not for wildly inflated fees and on contracts spanning nearly a decade (Caicedo signed on an eight-year deal, with the option of a further 12 months).
Long deals come with inherent risks, particularly when it will be nearly impossible to sell on many of their new signings for a profit.
Even if he is a success, and factoring in inflation and amortisation, it will be a challenge to sell on Caicedo for a profit, given the size of his fee.
And the risks of the strategy are already becoming apparent; Wesley Fofana, who cost an initial £70m, is facing most of the season sidelined with an ACL injury, highlighting one of the many risks that come with lengthy contracts, while Marc Cucurella is already on the transfer list, but finding a taker for a player who cost £62m last summer will not be easy.
Chelsea believe their unique transfer strategy falls in line with FFP... but the potential pitfalls of their strategy still feel widely under-appreciated
Ultimately, a huge part of Chelsea’s gamble is that a majority of their mega-money signings will remain fit and motivated, and fulfil their clear potential, which is no guarantee at this level.
Caicedo and Lavia, for example, are obviously talented players, but the Blues are still working on an extremely limited sample size of appearances in the Premier League.
In the short-term, there is also the question of the impact on Pochettino, who is particular about his working conditions.
The Argentine has always preferred working with a small, tightknit group of players and the club will need to offload at least eight to 10 of his squad before the end of the month — no easy task.
