Sport
When Chelsea signed Pedro Neto from Wolves this week – their 35th signing under Todd Boehly and the Clearlake group – something became abundantly clear.
It has been two years worth of chaos since the American consortium took over at Stamford Bridge and never had there felt like a plan is in place to succeed. They have started quite a few; signing Graham Potter, a forward-thinking British coach with a specific ideology, only to sack him months into a five-year contract. Then after a short interim spell for club legend Frank Lampard, a failed permanent manager but at least a face that could stem the tide of frustration from the fans. And then came Mauricio Pochettino, one of the most highly rated coaches when it came to developing young players and playing high intensity football.
But expecting him, or anyone, to forge such an identity when flooding the squad with so many players is almost an impossible task. There has never been a semblance of structure from Boehly despite a recruitment team being put in place. The squad got so big all the players couldn’t fit in the dressing room; harmony was as difficult to forge as direction. Pochettino, and Potter before him, departed the club but that has never corrected the problem.
With each summer there has been an opportunity to put things right; Profit And Sustainability Rules have never appeared an imminent threat, in part because they have sold well, especially cashing in on academy products which means pure profit, and various revenue streams. But every summer, they fail to take advantage. Enzo Maresca is now in the hot seat, another coach with a strong reputation but very little in terms of experience. It seems that, like with the huge number of players Chelsea have bought, they are valuing potential. That is a risk, and doesn’t really make sense if coaches get sacked every year and players don’t get enough playing time to develop.
The equivalent to Neto in terms of number of signings for Liverpool and Manchester United respectively are Bastian Schweinsteiger and Roberto Firmino, which’s is a damning indictment of the current era at Stamford Bridge.
Asking how Chelsea have achieved this and continue to do so is a very pertinent question, but asking how they’ve managed to squander such wealth is the most important thing. The money spent should be enough to build a super team; they have paid some of the biggest transfer fees in history, and yet have shrunk to merely a mid-table side who look to individuals to get them out of trouble. Speaking of which, Cole Palmer is now contracted to the club until 2033.
Tying down your best player is sensible. But the issue is Chelsea have a lot of players on vast contracts, as offering them was initially as a way of stretching out the cost of a transfer, making it more digestible from a PSR perspective, something which has now been capped at five years as a result. The obvious down side to that is players are very difficult to move on when they become unwanted, adding to the bloated feeling of Chelsea’s squad.
There is no sense of community or family spirit for fans to cling onto. At the end of the Abramovich era, having previously been cutthroat and defined by a trophy-laden era of instant gratification, Chelsea became likeable. Their approach had to change because of a transfer ban, and although Lampard ultimately struggled in the end, he gave academy graduates a chance.
Now, precisely because of the profit they represent, those graduates, notably Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah, are reportedly being banished from the club’s training ground. Chelsea have reverted to type in their ruthless selves without the success that defined them under Abramovich.
The lack of direction at Chelsea is staggering. The only thing more incredible is that, despite a huge amount of money spent once again, they are no closer to finding one.
