€1.08 billion spent but no improvement - How Chelsea became a mid table team under Boehly

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It’s that time again. We’re approaching the run-in for the Premier League season. And yet again Chelsea find themselves in the bottom half of the table. Last campaign’s 12th place finish was the lowest the Blues have finished in the Premier League since 1996. Many would have seen the season as a slight anomaly. But 11 months later, and another €467 million spent on transfers later, they are in exactly the same position. 

Mauricio Pochettino was brought in as the new manager, €116m was spent on midfielder Moisés Caicedo, as well as another raft of new signings arriving at Stamford Bridge. There was reason for optimism, even if Chelsea’s squad did still look slightly imbalanced, even after the gargantuan spending. Some were even claiming that a title challenge should be expected given the wealth of talent invested in. 

Staff

M. Pochettino Age: 52

Chelsea FC

Season 23/24 -
Premier League

Games

33

Won

13

Draw

9

Lost

11

However, Chelsea sit 11th in the league, and are 29 points adrift of current league leaders Arsenal going into their game this Monday against Newcastle. The club are also staring down the barrel of missing out on European football for two consecutive seasons for the first time since 1997. So why has it, yet again, not worked out for Chelsea this term? And is the reality that the Blues are now just a mid table team?

How Chelsea became a mid table team since Todd Boehly became chairman

When trying to assess the reason behind Chelsea’s demise, the obvious place to start is the poor recruitment at the club in recent years. Since Todd Boehly became the chairman of Chelsea in 2022, the club have spent a staggering €1.08 billion on new signings in only four transfer windows. If we compare that spending to other clubs across the same period, no one gets near Chelsea's spending. The closest team is PSG who have spent €567m in the said time-frame. In that same period, Chelsea have made just €337.26m from player sales, leaving them with a huge net spend of €742.03m. Once again far more than any other club.

Despite the astronomical amounts of money spent, the squad doesn’t appear to have improved greatly. Chelsea still don’t have a top goalscorer up front, and Thiago Silva has been their most consistent centre-half at 39 years of age. The midfield partnership of Enzo Fernández and Caicedo, which cost a combined €221m, has failed to dominate games the way its cost would merit. Chelsea boast a squad value of €947.3m - the third highest in the Premier League behind Manchester City (€1.26b) and Arsenal (€1.11b), but that’s largely because of the vast number of players they have and many of their team warranting their high market values primarily through the high transfer fee paid for them. The stark reality is that Chelsea may now just have a mid table squad. 

Player Comparison

Moisés Caicedo

Enzo Fernández

Chelsea FC

Chelsea FC

€80.00m

Market Value

€80.00m

22

Age

23

Defensive Midfield

Position

Central Midfield

Jun 30, 2031

Contract until

Jun 30, 2031

Full Player Comparison

Since the new ownership has been in place, Chelsea have already had five different managers in less than two seasons. The decision to sack Thomas Tuchel, who had won the club the Champions League, just six league games into last season was widely viewed as a very harsh call. The club were only beaten on penalties in both domestic finals in the previous season under the German's stewardship, and Tuchel was a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge.

Staff

T. Tuchel Age: 50

Chelsea FC

All seasons -
All competitions

Games

100

Won

63

Draw

19

Lost

18

Brighton manager Graham Potter was appointed. Following that decision, chairman Boehly said, “We look forward to supporting Graham, his coaching team and the squad in realising their full potential in the coming months and years.” Potter was sacked seven months later. Results were poor, performances not much better, but the feeling was always that Potter would need to be given time to make mistakes. It felt a long-term appointment. After a short interim spell for Bruno Saltor, former player and manager Frank Lampard took over until the end of the season in what appeared a bizarre decision. 

Now Pochettino is at the helm and things still haven’t improved. As can be viewed on the link above, Chelsea are the worst off in the entire division when you compare their league position to their transfer expenditure. Some fans and pundits have called for the Argentine to be sacked, but would that really solve the problem? As can be seen below, following Boehly’s arrival at Chelsea, Pochettino actually holds the best ppg record of all the managers in the Blues dugout. His record of 1.65ppg beats Potter (1.42ppg),  Tuchel (1.43ppg from only games since Boehly arrived) Lampard (0.45ppg) and Saltor (1ppg - only managed one game as interim boss).

This suggests there has been an, albeit small, improvement since Pochettino has arrived. It should also be taken into consideration the bloated imbalance squad he inherited and that the Argentine took them to the EFL Cup final. By no means has Pochettino done a great job at Stamford Bridge, but the problems at the club are deeper and will take time to fix. With many young talented players such as Cole Palmer, Fernández and Malo Gusto in their ranks, there is reason for optimism, when looking at the long-term. Results will undoubtedly have to improve, but the club’s hierarchy may be better off looking at their own involvement when assessing the issues occurring at the West London club.