Article Summary
- American investor, Todd Boehly with his consortium, completed a £2.5bn takeover of Chelsea in May 2022.
- They have spent over £600m on player transfers in the summer and winter transfer windows, but it has failed to translate into success on the pitch.
- Thiago Silva insists the club needs to put a new strategy in place as he bemoaned a bloated squad
- After posting a £121m loss, Chelsea will be looking to offload some out-of-favor players to balance their books, and the squad as well.
It has been a turbulent 12 months at Chelsea. An extraordinary 12 months which has changed everything in, and around the club.
Former Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich was one of the seven Oligarchs hit with sanctions by the UK government, as part of its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This led to the eventual end of his 19-year reign and the sale of the club to the US consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
Since the takeover, more than half a billion has been invested in 17 incoming player transfers to Chelsea over the past two transfer windows.
Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter have since been sacked, and new manager Frank Lampard does not look like he has found an answer to whatever siege has befallen his team. Four losses to kick off his second tenure as the manager of Chelsea is far from what his interim mission is – to salvage an already bad season.
Back-to-back losses in his first two Premier League matches have seen them slip further down the table to 11th. They are now 17 points adrift 4th placed Newcastle and only have 12 more points than relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.
While every hope of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League via league standings are all but gone, winning the Champions League offered an alternative route to qualification for Chelsea. A quarter-final tie against record winners, Real Madrid seemed like an impossible task for the Blues, and that it was. Rodrygo Goes scored twice at Stamford Bridge to complete a 4-0 aggregate win for Madrid.
Speaking after the game on Tuesday, Thiago Silva asked for new strategies to be put in place, after too many signings forced them to expand the dressing room.
“I think the first step has been made, an incorrect step, but it has been made,” Silva told reporters. “We can’t be blaming the managers if we don’t take responsibility. It’s a hard period for the club, with a lot of indecision.
“Change of ownership, new players arriving — we had to increase the size of the changing room because it didn’t fit the size of the squad.
“A positive point is that there are amazing players in the squad, but on the other hand, there are always players that are going to be unhappy. There is always going to be someone upset because not everyone can play. The manager can only pick 11 from a squad of 30-something — that’s tough.
“Some can’t make the squad, we signed eight in January, we need to stop and put a strategy in place, otherwise next season we could make the same mistakes.”
What strategies does Chelsea need to put in place?
2021-22 campaign accounts published by Chelsea FC Holdings Ltd in March showed that Chelsea recorded a net loss of £121.3 million last season, despite an annual revenue that increased to £ 481 million.
The figures could have been worse after they spent £118 million on new signings which included Romelu Lukaku, but the club recovered £123.2 million from the sales of Tammy Abraham, Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori, and Kurt Zouma.
The UK government restrictions on Chelsea between March and May last year for Abramovich’s alleged links to Russian President, Vladimir Putin meant that Chelsea was unable to sell tickets, merchandise or accept event bookings. Although commercial income from last year rose by £23.5 million to £177 million, but it could have been more.
A decrease in broadcast revenue – from £273 million to £235 million, and a slight increase in players’ wages for the season to £340 million all contributed to the loss.
Chelsea has now suffered losses in three of the last four seasons (totaling £343m), which has seen them being closely monitored by UEFA for Financial Fair Play violations. With Champions League qualification hopes all dashed, the most likely alternative to balance their books is player sales.
Chelsea’s big squad and potential sales.
Chelsea’s official site spots 31 players on its first team page, but this does not include Lewis Hall, an academy graduate who has had four Premier League starts this season, a lengthy loan list that includes Romelu Lukaku, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Andre Santos, and Christopher Nkuku, who will be joining from RB Leipzig in the summer.
Thiago Silva, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic, and Mateo Kovacic are all entering the final year of their contracts, which expire in June 2024. Kepa Arrizabalaga, Edouard Mendy, Kai Havertz, Conor Gallagher, and Cesar Azpilicueta have two years left.
To stay within FFP rules, Chelsea needs to sell this summer. And these sales must be agreed upon before June 30 so that the money can be added to their accounts this season, in hopes to usurp their big spending. They might be looking to cash in on any of these players who are nearing free transfers. Mason Mount is said to be valued by Chelsea at £70 million, and would also hope that other academy graduates, Gallagher, Loftus-Cheek, and Hudson-Odoi can bring in a combined £100m transfer fee.
