Chelsea are a club in turmoil, and according to recent reports, the cracks are beginning to show behind the scenes.
Despite spending over £1 billion in the past four transfer windows, US billionaire owner Todd Boehly has failed to emulate and oversee the on-field successes of previous owner Roman Abramovich.
Following back-to-back heavy 4-1 defeats against Liverpool and Wolves, the Blues have slipped to 11th place in the Premier League table. And although Mauricio Pochettino’s job as manager remains safe for the moment, the Argentine is quickly finding himself in an almost untenable position.
It isn’t just the manager who is struggling though — according to a recent report from The Athletic, several of Chelsea’s first-team players have “privately expressed regret” after agreeing to sign lengthy contracts because they “do not see the grand project that was sold to them in the first place”.
Although names have not been included in Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey’s report, Enzo Fernandez (2031), Moises Caicedo (2031) and Mykhailo Mudryk (2031) are just some of the players committed to long deals.
The handling of the club since Boehly took charge has recently drawn strong criticism from pundits, including Graeme Souness, who believes the American has ‘done damage’ to the club, and these latest reports will do very little to ease those concerns.