By Nate Flowers
667,000,000 dollars. No, this is not referring to the price of Air Force One, but rather Chelsea Football Club’s total amount spent in the transfer market this season.
Since American businessman Todd Boehly’s takeover of the London side, it seems like money is not an object to the club, which currently sits at tenth place in the Premier League. Since their Champions League title in 2021, Chelsea’s struggles have been apparent. The club saw massive success under their previous owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, with 18 major trophies won. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich was forced to give up the club after the British government imposed sanctions on him, declaring that he had enabled Vladimir Putin’s violent actions. In May of 2022, a consortium of investors headed by billionaire Todd Boehly purchased Chelsea F.C. for $5 billion with fans hopeful for their reign of success to continue. This has not been the case, however, with the club now out of both domestic tournaments and far away from the European competition spots for next year. Chelsea has been more active in the transfer market this season than any other team before, with new signings being announced almost daily during the last week of the January transfer window.
Here is a list of all Chelsea’s transfer signings in the 22/23 season:
Summer window:
Wesley Fofana - Defender (France): $96 million
Raheem Sterling - Attacker (England): $61 million
Kalidou Koulibaly - Defender (Senegal): $41 million
Marc Cucurella - Defender (Spain): $71 million
Carney Chukwuemeka - Midfielder (England): $20 million
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - Attacker (Gabon): $13 million
Gabriel Slonina(loan) - Goalkeeper (USA): $10 million
Denis Zakaria(loan) - Midfielder (Switzerland): $3 million
Summer total: $315 million
Chelsea F.C. did not meet the high expectations set by their high spending in the transfer market, their existing squad, and success from the preceding two years. Champions League-winning manager Tomas Tuchel (Germany) found himself out of a job after just one month into the season, being replaced by then-Brighton manager Graham Potter (England). Potter’s signing gave the fans hope, as he beat all expectations with a mid-table Brighton side right out the gate. However, supporters have been let down with their beloved squad sitting tenth in the premier league, six places below the Champions League spots. With executives scrambling to find a solution midway through the year, Boehly was more willing than ever to keep the cash flowing. Here is the list of Chelsea’s winter signings:
Enzo Fernandez - Midfielder (Argentina): $132 million
Mykhailo Mudryk - Attacker (Ukraine): $76 million
Benoit Badiashile - Defender (France): $41 million
David Datro Fofana - Attacker (Ivory Coast): $13 million
Joao Felix(loan) - Attacker (Portugal): $12 million
Noni Madueke - Attacker (England): $38 million
Malo Gusto - Defender (France): $33 million
Winter total: $345 million
Total spent: $660 million
Chelsea has done a very impressive job attracting all of this amazing talent, especially when one considers the club’s current ranking. One of the world cup’s biggest stars, Enzo Fernandez, now holds the record for the largest ever transfer fee for the Premier League. Just a week before the transfer deadline it had seemed that there wasn’t going to be a deal, as Chelsea was not willing to meet the release clause set by his former club S.L. Benfica (Portugal), and Fernandez reassured the fans he was staying by kissing the club’s badge on his jersey. But on January 31st, deadline day, Chelsea finally decided to sign the Argentinian starboy to the rest of the football world’s surprise. The talent of the squad continues to grow, with the signing of Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid (Spain) for the rest of the season. Felix made his Premier League debut against Fulham F.C. and put on an impressive performance, making fans giddy with excitement. Sadly for the supporters, Felix was sent off with a red card after just an hour on the pitch following a dangerous challenge. With a price tag so high, and not many games left to play, the Portuguese striker will now cost Chelsea around $500,000 per game played.
Another signing that holds the most excitement from supporters is Mykhailo Mudryk, an explosive Ukrainian winger known for his football skills and videos he made during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 highlighting his abilities. For the longest time it had seemed that rivals Arsenal F.C. would be the team to sign Mudryk, but at the last second Chelsea swooped in and hijacked the deal, paying the release clause immediately. Mudryk has long expressed his love for Arsenal and said it would be his dream to play for the North London side, but now he must put those dreams away for the remainder of his 8.5 year deal.
In fact, many of these players signed contracts which seem abnormally long, but this is no mistake. In 2011 UEFA, the governing body for European football, imposed Financial Fair Play, a set of rules and laws that restrict the spending of the wealthiest clubs. In order to stay under UEFA’s radar, Chelsea has structured their new signings' contracts in a special way that allows them to report the total transfer fee over a several year span. When a player with an $80 million transfer fee is signed to an 8 year contract, Chelsea only has to report $10 million per year. Exploiting these loopholes makes all those involved with football wonder if the so-called “Financial Fair Play” laws are truly fair and effective.
Chelsea’s exorbitant strategy has caught the eyes of millions, with their total January spending outweighing the total money spent by Europe’s other four top leagues combined. Can success be bought? Will trophies soon follow? Football fans are eager to find out the answers, and will be the first ones to laugh if any of the many signings turn out to be busts.
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