Nine months ago, a consortium led by American billionaire Todd Boehly took ownership of Chelsea FC at the end of the Premier League season, giving fans hope considering how well the last billionaire owner did for the club. Since then, the Blues have spent over $650 million bringing players into the club. After Saturday’s loss, they sit 10th in the Premier League.
Spending big isn’t something all that entirely new for Chelsea, having signed 12 players with price tags over €50 million over the last five years. And as expected, these lofty investments usually paid off, winning Chelsea a Champions League trophy as well as consistently battling for the top spots within the Premier League.
So, why isn’t it working this time?
There’s an argument to be made that Graham Potter isn’t fit to manage such a dense, high profile squad. He brought with him a slight new manager bump winning his first three league matches. However, in his short time with the Blues, Potter has only won 21 of a possible 51 points.
Chelsea’s form in 2023:
DLLLWDDDLL
One win in 10 games for Graham Potter’s side.
pic.twitter.com/sb6LWi5ImL
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 18, 2023
There’s also an argument to be made about the players, specifically the level of motivation to succeed within that system or under the manager. This scene has played out far too many times for the cycle to not be recognized, and was most prevalent during Jose Mourinho’s second stint with the London club.
It’s almost like a mini version of “tanking”, an infamous trend in American sports where teams lose purposefully for better draft picks or other offseason resources. The soccer version of that is a team putting on lackluster performances for poor reflections on the manager, in hopes someone new will be brought in.
While both of these arguments may have some standing, they aren’t the main reasons why Chelsea are playing so poorly right now. Potter is getting good performances out of his players, who all do seem to play with an air of determination to succeed. However, the results aren’t there, and it’s been long enough to notice that the manager and players are symptoms of the true problem, not the causes. The cause is the front office.
The soccer world has long complained about Chelsea’s spending, and mostly because that spending has actually resulted in tangible success. Roman Abramovich led the club to more trophies than pre-2003 Chelsea fans could even dream of. He splashed cash with the motivation of improving the product on the pitch, which to him meant winning trophies.
Chelsea trophies won in the Roman Abramovich era:-
5 x Premier League
— Frank Khalid OBE (@FrankKhalidUK) February 15, 2023
Boehly, on the other hand, has brought with him a similar itch to spend but a completely different strategy. In fact, after January, much of the soccer world (at least on Twitter) figured that his main transfer strategy was to just outbid Arsenal by about 20% and collect players that way.
While that mostly comes from just two higher profile signings, the idea suggests that Boehly’s mind is elsewhere when it comes to these decisions, and I’m inclined to agree. Just when you thought they were done you see a tweet from Fabrizio Romano reporting their interest in yet another player who’s at least €15 million too expensive. It’s like he’s playing Ultimate Team but ignoring chemistry and bidding straight off the Team of the Week lists.
There are too many cooks in the kitchen, and it’s hard for anyone within the situation to figure it out. When players are bought for the prices Chelsea are paying, one of two things goes through their minds: they wanted me so badly they must play me, or they paid a lot for me so I need to play to prove my worth.
It’s already problematic when you have only one player caught in between these mindsets. But Chelsea are on the verge of building a whole squad of them, and it’s leading to far too much confusion for there to be a coherent and collective effort towards success.
Likewise, these players barely have time to get used to each other before crops of competition are brought in. There’s so little time to establish a rhythmic momentum that it leaves the club relying on individual brilliance far too often. There are plenty of players able to produce those moments, but once poor results start to mount, that slight hit in confidence knocks them just off course enough to dig the hole even deeper.
“Chelsea spent all this money and didn’t get a number nine in the team, that’s a problem”@rioferdy5 reacts after a frustrating night in front of goal for Chelsea 🔵#UCL pic.twitter.com/HNk9tPEsfE
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 15, 2023
This is where the Potter symptom comes into play. He is a manager who has built his reputation off making the most of what he has, and exponentially exceeding all expectations that may have been set on paper. He brought Östersund from the fourth tier of Sweden to the top flight and a win in the Europa League against Arsenal. He brought Brighton and Hove Albion to the highest finish ever in their history, cultivating a squad that no club would want to face any day of the week. He is used to being give little and making a lot, so it would make sense that he could probably make even more out of a lot.
But sometimes there’s too much, which is the case at Chelsea. That’s the main problem, there’s just too much. Too much money thrown out for players. Too much clutter on the first team squad sheet. Too much pressure from the abundant selection of assets to make confident decisions. Too much apprehension that even more of all of it is coming, despite not being able to figure it out now. They stand in their own way, and so far everything points to them running full speed ahead regardless of the warning signs.
