Chelsea fans are becoming a bit—OK, maybe very—restless. Manchester City has signed Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips; Liverpool has added Darwin Nunez to its ranks; Tottenham has brought Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic on board; and Arsenal is linked to everyone under the sun, in addition to its incoming moves thus far. Meanwhile, the Blues are sitting idly by alongside Manchester United with zero additions as July creeps up.
Make no mistake about it though, Chelsea’s hierarchy has been extremely busy since the turn of the calendar month. There is no excuse for the Red Devils, but the Blues have had to deal with undoing the bad things done by the sanctions and complete a takeover. Todd Boehly has hit the ground running thus far as owner. He’s transitioned into new roles, addressed season ticket issues, cleaned up the board and offloaded Romelu Lukaku all in a matter of weeks. It’s now time for Chelsea to become active shoppers in the transfer market with all distractions out of the way.
Chelsea and new owner Todd Boehly mean business in the transfer market
Boehly has taken over as both Chairman and Director for Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia respectively, at least on a temporary basis. This news has resulted in a mixed reaction amongst the fanbase as some believe he’s piling too many things on his plate during his first trip to the buffet. However, the American has everybody fooled. While this may be his first time dining in the European restaurant, he frequents business buffets stateside with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boehly has done everything right thus far and it’s encouraging to see how he’s approaching issues as owner—especially the transfer market.
Even though the Clearlake regime has only been in power at Chelsea for a month, its frontman has given fans a taste of what life under the American group will be like going forward. Boehly is a lot more hands on than traditional football owners. It’s believed that he will spend the summer essentially living lavishly on his jetliner as he travels across Europe to and from meetings. The 48-year-old has spent countless hours over the last few weeks calling agents, clubs and other important sporting personnel, introducing himself as the Blues’ new chief negotiator.
Chelsea has been linked with a handful of superstars—most shockingly, Cristiano Ronaldo—and it seems as if its transfer strategy has changed. Between Matthijs de Ligt, Raheem Sterling and Ronaldo, the Blues are looking to make smart investments for starting caliber players who have experience being leaders in the past. There seems to be no more overspending on the hottest new toy on the transfer market’s shelves, a player who doesn’t fit the manager’s system at the time.
Chelsea has a world class head coach in Thomas Tuchel and it’s about time the chop and change ways of old were kicked to the curb. The owners and manager are fully invested in and committed to each other for the first time in decades in west London. If these two sides continue on the same path, this could be the beginning of something truly special in SW6.
The truth is that many Blues supporters were skeptical when they first heard that an American was the preferred bidder for their club. Change is an intimidating thing, and uncertainty is always accompanied by fear. Boehly has already shown that he’s cut from a different cloth though. It wasn’t easy for Chelsea fans to say goodbye to now-former owner Roman Abramovich. Boehly is making the break up much more bearable as he’s hitting the ground running. The Blues have not made any additions yet, but fear not, Boehly means business. The club is in capable hands.
Are you excited about the future under Boehly? Let us know your thoughts about the state of the club in the comments or on Twitter!