Livescore
Although not a surprise, Chelsea’s umpteenth revolution catches the eye with the departures of Cesar Azpilicueta (Atletico Madrid) and soon Christian Pulisic (Milan or Lyon), there will only be three ‘survivors’ left from the Champions League final won in 2021 in Porto: Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Reece James.
The arrival of Todd Boehly caused an ‘earthquake’ at Stamford Bridge and with the millions came the signings, the sales… and their eventual disintegration.
Although the transfer market officially started on July 1, Chelsea have been working on the arrival and departure operations for a long time.
They have already spent almost 100 million euros between Nkunku and Nico Jackson, but they have made more than 220 million with the departures of Havertz, Kovacic, Mount to United or the massive exodus of players to the Saudi league.
With just 44 points in the Premier League (12th) and zero titles won, Todd Boehly’s first year in London could not have been worse.
The American bought the club from Abramovich more than a year ago, spent 600 million in the 2022/23 market (the most expensive in history)… and it went disastrously, so now he has two months to fix last year’s poor planning.
Pochettino leads the ship
Mauricio Pochettino is already working in Cobham to return Chelsea to European competitions in 2023/24.
He will have a year with a ‘lighter’ calendar (only Premier League and domestic cup competitions) but with a very high demand to return Chelsea to its rightful place.
He will seek to achieve that through the club’s history in this 21st century… and by spending in the market, nobody invests more than they do.
“Mauricio’s experience, standards of excellence, leadership qualities and character will serve Chelsea well as we move forward,” a statement read when Pochettino was appointed.
“He is a winning coach, who has worked at the highest level, in multiple leagues and languages.
“His ethos, tactical approach and commitment to development made him an exceptional candidate.”
To replicate what he achieved in the past at clubs like Tottenham, when he grew an entire squad to reach the Champions League final is the goal.
“I think the size of the squad is something the club will address,” Frank Lampard reflected before departing this summer.
“I’m sure the new manager will understand what I’m saying.”
The departures are already taking place.
Confirmed departures… and pending
Chelsea has put the ‘for sale’ sign on half of the squad in order to meet the parameters of the Financial Fair Play with UEFA.
No money will be paid for the Champions League and that is a hole of at least 60 million that sales must cover.
So far they have already brought in 156 million with the departures of Havertz (Arsenal), Kovacic (City), Koulibaly (Al Hilal), Mendy (Al-Ahli), Loftus-Cheek (Milan), Kante (Al-Ittihad) and Bakayoko (free).
Already in January, with Boehly making room for new signings, Jorginho left for Arsenal, and before that, in the summer of 2022, Werner, Emerson Palmieri, Gilmour, Batshuayi, Rudiger and Marcos Alonso had left.
In addition, on the way are the sales of Mount (to Manchester United for 70 million), Pulisic (will be around 25 million) or Azpilicueta (who will leave for free and is on his way to the Metropolitano).
In addition, there is the ‘Ziyech issue’, where problems with the medical examination paralyzed his departure to Saudi Arabia.
Then, of course, there is the puzzle of the loan players returning to London, with Lukaku as the most talked-about case.
The Belgian, who cost 114 million euros, returns from Milan … but does not want to stay and his idea is to return to Inter but Chelsea wants to ‘monetize’ his departure with at least 35-40 million euros.
Along with him, Malang Sarr, Ethan Ampadu or Hudson-Odoi return to Stamford Bridge with no prognosis of a long stay, meaning more departures are inevitable.
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