Chelsea have spent over £1 billion on player transfers since Todd Boehly purchased the club from Roman Abramovich.
Succeeding the Russian tycoon in May 2022 following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, Boehly, 50, purchased Chelsea for a reported £4.25 billion (Sky Sports).
And although there was initial sadness to see Abramovich depart following what had been a trophy-littered 20 years in charge, there was renewed hope that Boehly’s new regime would be able to lead the club into a new and exciting era.
Things have not gone as the US billionaire owner would have envisioned though. Despite spending vast sums across the past four transfer windows, including smashing the British transfer record and signing Moises Caciedo from Brighton and Hove Albion for £115 million (FourFourTwo), Chelsea appear further away from silverware now than they ever have.
What has Graeme Souness said about Todd Boehly?
And issuing a damning assessment of how Boehly’s reign has gone so far, as well as reflecting on last month’s 4-1 hammering against Liverpool, pundit Souness believes it’s almost too late to rectify the ‘damage that has already been done’.
“Chelsea are in trouble. Since the ownership change, it’s been a downward spiral,” Souness told the White and Jordan show, as quoted by Birmingham Live.
“[…] The damage is done. They’ve spent way, way too much money on good players, not top, top players.
“They’ve got a couple of young midfield players that may be good enough for them one day. They have spent over £100 million on both of them. I was sitting down last week watching the Liverpool game and as an old midfield player, that’s the first place I would look.
“I’m thinking, ‘I’ve not really seen these guys [Moises] Caceido and [Enzo] Fernandez’. I’m saying ‘Come on’ because I know Liverpool is a very difficult place for anyone to go and play. They’re going to be put under pressure every minute of the game. ‘Let’s see how they deal with it’. Didn’t turn up.
“I’m not just blaming everything on those two but I think it’s been a succession of buying players for the sake of buying players. I think there’s a couple of players they bought believing that maybe Man City or Liverpool were interested in them. They weren’t buying them because they were the No 1 targets from 6-9 months, a year ago. They have gone out and spent money for the sake of spending money and they’ve made a pig’s ear of it.
“I’ll finish on this, they listen to the wrong people, whoever is advising them on football matters, they have given a masterclass on how not to do it. That’s Chelsea right now.”
Do you agree with Souness’ assessment? — Let us know where you think Boehly has gone wrong in the comments below.