Chelsea have Premier League’s second-oldest club transfer record
By George Perry
Chelsea are not only lagging the rest of the Premier League in their transfer activity this summer. While other clubs take a “whatever the cost of success” approach, the Blues have the second-oldest transfer record of current or recent Premier League clubs.
Chelsea signed Fernando Torres for a record £50 million in January 2011. Since then nearly every club in the Premier League has set new records for their most expensive transfer, while El Nino still holds the top spot at Stamford Bridge.
Fourteen clubs from next season’s Premier League have set a new transfer record in the last year. Newcomers Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion wasted little time in preparing themselves. They signed Steve Mounie and Mat Ryan, respectively, at club-record fees.
Among the top clubs, long-time hold-out Arsenal overcame four years of inertia to sign Alex Lacazette. Lacazette’s £46.5 million fee surpassed Mezut Ozil’s arrival in 2013 by £4 million. Tottenham and Manchester United set their records last season, while Liverpool matched Andy Carroll’s 2011 signing with Mohamed Salah.
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Salah is not the only ex-Chelsea player on the list of record signings. Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake and Romelu Lukaku all played for the Blues before becoming some other club’s most-expensive transfer.
Only Newcastle have allowed their transfer record to stand longer than Chelsea. They signed Michael Owen for £17 million in August 2005, and have not come close since. This is the source of significant tension for Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez. Many Newcastle fans expect the club to finally break Owen’s transfer record as part of Benitez’s plan to actualize Newcastle’s potential and restore the club’s ambition and performance.
Chelsea, on the other hand, show no signs of moving in that direction. They may be a bit fearful to set a new club record, given how the last two performed. Torres performed well but – except for That Goal – not at club-record levels. Before him was Andriy Shevchenko, who is among the Premier League’s biggest transfer flops.
However, Chelsea broke their own record three times in two years early in the Roman Abramovich era. Damien Duff, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien all took the top spot between July 2003 and August 2005, moving the record from £17 million to £24 million.
Those years were pivotal for both Chelsea and the Premier League. Abramovich ushered in a new era of spending for English football and success for Chelsea. However, in the intervening decade, the rest of the league has caught up with Chelsea’s practices and ambition, if not success.
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If Chelsea hope to fend off their usual rivals as well as ambitious clubs like Everton and Southampton, they will need to start acting like it. Part of that entails spending like it. Overpaying for a player simply to set a record is foolish. But treating a record as the upper limit is equally foolish, and speaks to complacency before decline.
Antonio Conte deserves the best players, from which he can build the best team. He should not be expected to repeat last year’s feat solely on the grounds that he did it once. Over the course of last season and this summer – as over the course of the last 15 years – the rest of the Premier League made up ground on Chelsea. The Blues’ need to spend with purpose and ambition.
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All transfer data from SoccerBase and TransferMarkt.