As usual, Chelsea is still the most active team in the transfer market. They have brought in a total of 6 rookies even though it is only mid-July. But unlike other transfer periods, the Blues seem to spend more “wisely” this year.
Chelsea already spent heavily under former owner Roman Abramovich. But since being taken over by the American owners, represented by Todd Boehly, the Blues have spent even more money. Social networks have nicknamed them “excavators”, because looking at the way they shop, it seems like if they see any young player with potential, they will “excavate” them all, regardless of whether that player is real or not. whether it is appropriate and necessary in the current plan or not.
From the summer of 2022, when Boehly began taking over Stamford Bridge, until before this summer, Chelsea spent more than 1 billion pounds in the transfer market, bringing in nearly… 40 players. This type of massive shopping confuses even the fans; There are many players who, before they get used to reading their names, are replaced by someone new. And of course the most confused are the coaches. By the time Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino started to understand their players, they… lost their jobs.
Summer 2024 does not appear to be an exception. Just past mid-July, Chelsea brought in 6 new players. In terms of the number of new recruits, Chelsea is one of the most active teams. However, if we look deeper into each transfer, we will see many differences. First of all is the amount of money spent. To get 6 new players, Chelsea only had to spend 95 million pounds, meaning an average of just over 15 million pounds per player. That amount of money is only approximately the amount they spent on Enzo Fernandez or Moises Caicedo alone.
More importantly, the players Chelsea brought in seemed to follow a clearly designed plan. A typical case is the case of Tosin Adarabioyo. The Fulham midfielder is highly rated and is on the radar of many big teams in the Premier League. But Chelsea was quicker and convinced him to join Stamford Bridge on a free transfer after he refused to sign a new contract with Fulham. Adarabioyo is expected to be a worthy replacement for Thiago Silva.
The most expensive contract, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, was obviously made at the request of the head coach. Mr. Enzo Maresca knows this versatile midfielder very well after working together at Leicester. In the opposite direction, Dewsbury-Hall also clearly understands the philosophy and methods of the Italian coach, so he can completely be his extended arm in the new team. This type of relationship will help Maresca’s integration process go more smoothly, because at least not everything at Stamford Bridge is 100% new to him.
Chelsea mainly invests the remaining money for the future. They spent 19 million pounds to bring in Omari Kellyman, an 18-year-old midfielder on Aston Villa’s payroll and the England U20 team. They also spent 5 million pounds to release the contract of Marc Guiu, another 18-year-old player, from Barca. Renato Veiga, from Sporting Lisbon, is also a very young player. Only 20 years old this year, and able to play both center back, left back and midfielder positions, Veiga can be considered “cheap” with an investment of only 12 million pounds.
And finally, 29 million pounds for Estevao Willian, the new prodigy of Brazilian football. Willian cannot join Chelsea right away because he is not yet 18 years old, but the Blues still spent a large amount of money because they saw the huge potential of the person considered “the best after Neymar”.
