Chelsea had to react. Since the arrival of the American Todd Boehly at the helm, the London club has been a spectacle on the transfer market. The new Blues strongman has indeed spent more than €600m in one season, between recruits and various coaching changes. XXL expenses which were not without consequences. In addition to a poor twelfth place in the standings last season, Chelsea was mainly forced to cut down to stay in the nails of financial fair play.
This did not prevent the Londoners from spending 112 M€ this summer to enlist Angelo Gabriel (15 M€), Christopher Nkunku (60 M€) and Nicolas Jackson (37 M€). However, the Blues have also been very active at the start level. Several players (Azpilicueta, Rahman Baba, Kanté) left free of any contract, but the Blues still sold well this summer.
Pochettino gets his message across
Kai Havertz signed with Arsenal (€70m), Mateo Kovacic joined Manchester City (€29m), Édouard Mendy left for Al-Ahli (€18.5m), Kalidou Koulibaly was recruited by Al Hilal (€23m), AC Milan signed Ruben Loftus-Cheek (€16m) and Christian Pulisic (€20m) and finally, Mason Mount left for Manchester United (€64m). That is a total of €240 million. This season, the balance is therefore positive. But the slate left last season still weighs and the degreasing is far from over. And that’s a problem for Mauricio Pochettino. In addition to Wesley Fofana’s serious knee injury which will undoubtedly force the Blues to recruit a replacement for the Frenchman, the Argentine coach said at a press conference that he was waiting for other reinforcements.
“I want the right profiles, the right players, to arrive and improve the team. Of course, as soon as possible is always better. We have to work very hard to achieve the goals we have set ourselves. We know it’s difficult. We have a very young group. It’s a challenge. It’s something we knew when we agreed to lead this club. There’s no reason to complain, it’s a very exciting time. We are confident that we can build a very good group ready to compete in the Premier League. We are still working on finalizing this project. » The message got through.
