For several decades, Chelsea has not really been unanimous in England. Under Roman Abramovich already, but perhaps even more so since the takeover of the club by the BlueCo consortium and Todd Boehly. The American billionaire does not hesitate to put his hand in his pocket for his team. So much so that the Blues can afford to recruit Moisés Caicedo for 133 M€, and to make Roméo Lavia for 56 M€ in stride. Enough to drive Liverpool crazy, beaten on these issues, but also Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City coach. The Skyblues face Newcastle this Saturday evening at 9 p.m., but before this clash, the Spanish tactician took the opportunity to tackle Chelsea politics.
“What I’m saying is if we had, we would have died”he says at first. “For Chelsea it’s easier than for us. I have no criticism, they can do whatever they want. But we’d be under surveillance like you can’t imagine. I wouldn’t be sitting here if we spent what Chelsea spent in the two transfer windows – you (the media) would kill me’. For Pep Guardiola, the Blues find it far too easy to recruit, without being investigated according to him. The Cityzens coach would almost forget buying Joško Gvardiol for around €120m this summer, not to mention that the Manchester club’s spending has been under scrutiny since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008, facing Premier League charges for 115 breaches of financial rules. What reserve us an attractive Chelsea – Manchester City next November. The tone is set.
