So, after a change of ownership, two managerial firings, three wild transfer windows and the arrival of 23 players — and counting — at a staggering cost of around $1 billion, is new-look Chelsea ready to compete for the English Premier League title again?
Not yet, most would say.
However, there are signs that good things might be around the corner for a club which, for the past two years, has been consumed by chaos on and off the field and rarely out of the spotlight because of its outrageously expensive squad overhaul.
The record signing of Moises Caicedo and the imminent arrival of another highly rated defensive midfielder, Romeo Lavia, are likely to put the seal on another busy transfer window for Chelsea that was as interesting because of the names leaving the club as it was for those joining.
Out has gone Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kalidou Koulibaly, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kai Havertz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, among others.
Through the revolving door has arrived Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson, Robert Sanchez, Lesley Ugochukwu, Angelo and most recently Caicedo, who has signed a deal worth $146 million — a record for a British team. Lavia is set to join imminently from Southampton for a fee approaching $70 million to take Chelsea's spending in this window to more than $400 million, after an outlay of $280 million last summer and $350 million in January.
Oh, and there is another new coach in place in Mauricio Pochettino, who looks to be the calm head needed in the madness around him at Stamford Bridge.
That's quite an upheaval in the first 15 months of the tenure of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, following their purchase of Chelsea for $2.5 billion in May 2022. At that time, Chelsea was still the European champion. Last season, the first under Boehly and Clearlake, the team plunged to a 12th-place finish in the Premier League.
Ultimately, all that most Chelsea fans really care about are results on the field. The season got off to an encouraging start.
Jumping to conclusions after one match is always dangerous, yet Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Liverpool contained enough positive moments — particularly in the second half — to get excited about what is to come, especially now Caicedo is there to shore up the midfield.
A central midfield of Caicedo, Enzo Fernandes and either Lavia or Conor Gallagher has wing backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell in front of a defense containing Thiago Silva and Levi Colwill — one of English soccer's most promising center backs. That has the makings of a strong team with plenty of youth on its side, not counting the 38-year-old Silva of course.
Chelsea not being in Europe gives Pochettino a week between each league game to get his methods ingrained in the team.
A kind-looking early fixture schedule helps, too, with West Ham up next away on Sunday, followed by matches against Luton, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Fulham and Burnley. By then, Chelsea should have plenty of points and a team working the way Pochettino wants.
There are some concerns, though.
In Sanchez, Chelsea has a starter who finished last season as Brighton's second-choice goalkeeper and isn't the ball-playing goalie many top teams have.
In attack, Jackson is somehow the only real out-and-out striker in the squad and might have to shoulder the burden up front until December while Nkunku recovers from a knee injury sustained in preseason. There are few senior attackers to help out, with Raheem Sterling perhaps not the force he once was and January signings Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk still raw talents.
The pressure is on Pochettino to deliver, and quickly. Given the remarkable outlay and with new players mostly on long contracts — seven or eight years — to spread “amortization” costs of transfer fees across the majority of the deals, Boehly and Clearlake are taking a risk with a strategy that could have long-term consequences. Any new signing who proves to be a dud could, in theory, hang around until the 2030s on a huge salary.
Chelsea's American ownership is likely banking on earning money from being in the Champions League, but a place in the top four — or top five if, as is likely, England earns an extra entry in a 36-team Champions League next season — is not guaranteed when up against state-owned clubs such as Manchester City and Newcastle, as well as Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham.
It's why the progress of Chelsea will be so interesting to watch over the next few seasons because of the gamble the owners are taking.
In the short term, it's about getting a first win of the season at West Ham, which opened with a 1-1 draw, too, at Bournemouth.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press
