Fair to say, since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital's takeover of Chelsea in 2022, they have been busy in the transfer market. In three and a half years, 54 new senior players have been signed, costing well in excess of £1 billion,
Some have not come close to making a senior appearance for the club, including Gaga Słonina, Ângelo Gabriel, Omari Kellyman and Caleb Wiley, to name but a few.
Others though have made a massive impact, namely Marc Cucurella, Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and talisman Cole Palmer. Well, could one of their summer signings be set to join the latter category, proving to be one of the signings of the season across the Premier League?
Chelsea's summer signing proving his worth
It has been a very productive week for Liam Rosenior's side. On Saturday night, despite being 2-0 down at half time, the Blues fought back to beat West Ham 3-2 at Stamford Bridge, thanks to Enzo Fernández's stoppage time winner.
This made it three Premier League wins out of three for Rosenior. He thereby becomes only the fourth Englishman to win their first three matches in the competition, after Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce and Craig Shakespeare; illustrious company to keep.
This came three days after Chelsea had secured their place in the Champions League round of 16 thanks to a 3-2 victory at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. They were 2-1 down against Napoli in that one, but João Pedro's second half brace secured the victory they need. The Brazilian's goal at the weekend to get the comeback started took his tally to 15 for the club, including the three he bagged at the Club World Cup. So, how does that compare to other strikers who moved last summer?
Goals scored by strikers who changed clubs in summer 2025
Players | Fee | PL goals | UCL goals | Total goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hugo Ekitiké | £79m | 10 | 2 | 15 |
João Pedro | £60m | 9 | 3 | 12 |
Viktor Gyökeres | £54.8m | 6 | 4 | 11 |
Nick Woltemade | £69m | 7 | 1 | 9 |
Benjamin Šeško | £66.3m | 5 | N/A | 6 |
Alexander Isak | £125m | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Liam Delap | £30m | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Of all the strikers recruited by leading Premier League clubs last season, only Hugo Ekitiké has scored more goals than João Pedro across all competitions. The Frenchman has three more to his name, albeit he did cost Liverpool around £20m more than Chelsea paid for the Brazilian.
Across the entire Premier League, Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago, Antoine Semenyo and Ekitiké are the only players to have bagged more goals than Pedro's nine. Away from the stats, the Blues simply play better when the 24-year-old is the man leading the line.
Their most-recent league defeat came with him on the bench at Craven Cottage, starting and scoring in all three matches since Rosenier's arrival. So, while they may have recruited plenty of personnel from Brighton during the BlueCo-era, the striker may prove to be the best signing of the lot.