“We’re not spending… we’re investing”- Todd Boehly on Chelsea’s much-maligned transfer approach that has crossed £1b mark

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly speaks on club’s plans and giving players long-term contracts

Todd Boehly has been interacting with the media a lot lately, and the Chelsea owner has this time explained the club’s ambitions and the player’s contract proposals. Boehly took over the club’s ownership in 2022 when the UK government froze the assets of then-Roman Abramovich.

This led to Abramovich stepping down as the Blues’ owner, and Chelsea’s new era started under a new owner. Since then, the club has seen an expenditure of £1 billion on transfers and has implanted new rules where he has focused on signing only young players.

The owners have been under constant criticism for their spending and handing of eight- and nine-year deals to the players, as this barely changed the fortunes of the club on the pitch as the club finished 12th in his first reign as club owner.

This campaign they have done pretty decent, as Chelsea are now sixth in the league and hope to secure the Europa League. But there is still a long way to go to see the project come to fruition, as Boehly explained, (h/t Football.London), Speaking at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum, he said:

“We’re focused on winning. The second thing is having what we think is a really young and exciting team, right? You know, that’s going to be around together for a long time because if you look at franchises that dominate for periods of time, it’s because they have real stability in the team, front office, and coaching.

“To be able to lay the groundwork, you have to be able to start with the stability of the team by having a young team that has longer than average contracts. The reality is that in European football, if you’re on a seven-year contract, the way we look at it is really that it’s a five-year contract, right?

Boehly explained it in a better way, and when you look at the plan, you need to understand what the owner wants to build. Because their results won’t instantly start with the type of players they are signing, this will result in scrutiny from the fans, and pressure will be put on the management and coach.

Chelsea’s history has been different because the club never focused on building a club from scratch; they only brought players and hired and fired managers if things didn’t work. But in an effort to give the team a distinct identity, Boehly wants to introduce different perspectives from the supporters.

More Chelsea news

• Mauricio Pochettino expects Wesley Fofana to join Chelsea for pre-season
• Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher backs Chelsea star Cole Palmer to win Premier League Young Player of the Season award
• Chelsea hopes Manchester City beat Manchester United in FA Cup to enable them to qualify for European competition

And when we talk about long contracts handed to the players, it helps the club spread the player’s salary across their time at the club, which financially makes things simple for the team. There are a lot of things fans need to see, and how the owners are running the club. Hopefully, in the future, we will see positive results from their ambitions.