Todd Boehly has had a lively first year at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images) Todd Boehly hasn’t been afraid to splash the cash since becoming Chelsea’s new owner in May 2022. The American businessman, who Forbes estimates is worth $5.3 billion (£3.6 billion) has parted company with almost £600 million in transfer fees and, incredibly, the huge outlay has seemed to have made the Premier League heavyweights even worse. A miserable campaign has left Chelsea marooned in 11th place in the table, with Thomas Tuchel and his replacement Graham Potter sacked by Boehly as the owner looks to arrest a slide into mid table mediocrity. Boehly’s chaotic transfer strategy has even drawn criticism from his own players, with Thiago Silva stating that the sheer number of new signings has forced the club to expand its dressing room.
Since Boehly completed his purchase of Chelsea last year and became co-owner alongside Behdad Eghbali, the club have splashed out £585.5 million on 16 new players across the summer transfer window 2022 and the January transfer window 2023. The first new face of the new reign in west London was the £50 million capture of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City ahead of the new season. The 28 year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge on a five year contract, with Tuchel describing the England international as Chelsea’s ‘number one priority’. Later in the window Spanish fullback Marc Cucurella arrived from Brighton for £58 million whilst Wesley Fofana completed his £72m switch from Leicester. Experienced centre back Kalidou Koulibaly moved from Napoli for £34 million, whilst former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – who was left out of their Champions League squad – departed Barcelona to join for around £10.5 million. The Blues moved to sign then 18 year-old Carney Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa for £16 million despite only having made a handful appearances for Villa’s first team.
Their summer splurge was completed with the captures of Cesare Casadei for £17.5 million, with the young Italian spending the season on loan at Reading, and third choice goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina for £8 million. After a difficult first half to the season which resulted in the departure of Tuchel, Boehly backed Potter in the January transfer window with eight additions to the squad. The headline move was the signing of Argentina’s World Cup star Enzo Fernandez for a British transfer fee of £107 million, with Boehly heading to Portugal to wrap up the deal with Benfica in the final hours of the winter window. The other blockbuster January move saw Chelsea hijack Arsenal’s move for Mykhailo Mudryk, who had been destined for a move to the Emirates before Boehly blew The Gunners out of the water with an £88 million bid. The Ukrainian international has underwhelmed since his big money move to Stamford Bridge, failing to score in any of his ten Premier League appearances to date.
Atletico Madrid agreed to let Joao Felix leave on a short term deal for a loan fee of around £9.5 million, whilst French centre back Benoit Badiashile was added from Monaco for just shy of £35 million. Right back Malo Gusto was signed from Lyon for £31 million and loaned back to the Ligue 1 club for the rest of the season. David Datro Fofana (£10.5 million), Andrey Santos (£11 million) and Noni Madueke rounded off their January business as the Blues spent more than the top flight clubs in La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga combined. Chelsea also reportedly have a deal in place to sign Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku for £53 million in the summer 2023 transfer window.