Chelsea must fix biggest Todd Boehly mistake in title push after £1bn transfer spend
Chelsea’s ownership has been under the spotlight in recent months, but there’s one mistake that appears to have gone under the radar in terms of squad progression and transfers
Chelsea’s new ownership have made a few mistakes as they learn the trials and tribulations of running a football club in the first year or so in charge. Some have been costly such as Kalidou Koulibaly’s move from Napoli not working out, resulting in an abrupt switch to Saudi Arabia.
However, few will be as costly as the player pathway that is currently undetermined by the hierarchy if it continues down the current path. To put it into context, the overall plan for player development needs to be taken into account, where BlueCo have been clear they want to develop top, young talent as part of a longer-term self-sustaining model.
That conveyer belt of talent has to start somewhere, so the £1billion spend in transfers has reflected that in landing the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and more. That’s opened them up to criticism both on and off the pitch as these players need time to gain experience and consistency amongst a changing spine of a team.
Off the pitch, the view is a small price for setting up a system that will allow players to filter through to a first-team ready level. The purchase of RC Strasbourg as part of a multi-club model comes with the view of providing a potential pathway for players in a wider system – similar to that of City Football Group and the Red Bull Group.
That will take time to set up though, needing to overhaul several clubs at their basic level to create a global scouting and development network. In the here and now, the Blues are at risk of wasting some of their own talent and risking the foundations this plan will be built on.
Their acquisition of lots of young talent has put question marks over the plan for current development of both the academy players and those bought for the future. Take Andrey Santos, for example: a young Brazilian midfielder that has impressed in his short career so far.
If there was a plan over his next steps, there hasn’t been the semblance of one so far as he joined Premier League side Nottingham Forest. That immediately brought up questions over how many minutes he would be guaranteed – which after seven games in the league, is a grand total of zero.
Forest have been known to churn through players at a similar rate to Chelsea at this stage, meaning there was simply no guarantee the youngster would develop. Compare that to elsewhere in Europe or potentially stepping down to the Championship, where minutes would be guaranteed and the coaching setup would suit an up and coming youngster over results.
It risks wasting time over a promising talent purely from not seeming to have a clear plan over which steps need to be carefully planned for the development. Similar can be said of Bashir Humphreys, who may be in a slightly better position, but still faced uncertainty.
The young defender impressed in his spells with the first-team last season and coming into this campaign, there were potential chances at getting into the team. He was kept around for most of the summer until deadline day, where a last minute decision was made to send him on loan to Swansea City.
While the Championship outfit have a good record when it comes to coaching youngsters, just the two league appearances isn’t ideal. That may have been less of an issue if a decision was made on whether to confirm a loan sooner rather than later in the window, once again questioning the development plan.
One final example is Cesare Casadei, who joined from Inter Milan last year before making a loan switch to Reading for the season. While his spell with the Royals ended in relegation to League One, there were plenty of positives taken from the individual performances of the Italian midfielder.
Fast forward to pre-season and the youngster was involved with Chelsea’s tour of the USA, which will come as a slight positive but came with risk. That being if a loan to a division below was desired, then their season would have already started by the time he returns to England.
That was exactly what happened as he moved to recently-relegated Leicester City after the Championship had gotten underway. In doing so, Casadei has had to catch up with the rest of the team that are learning their trade under new head coach Enzo Maresca, meaning it would take time.
OPINIONChelsea must fix biggest Todd Boehly mistake in title push after £1bn transfer spend
Chelsea’s ownership has been under the spotlight in recent months, but there’s one mistake that appears to have gone under the radar in terms of squad progression and transfers
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ByLuke ThrowerTrends Writer
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LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 27: Chelsea owner Todd Boehly looks on ahead of the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on August 27, 2022 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
Todd Boehly has a huge problem to fix at Chelsea (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
Chelsea’s new ownership have made a few mistakes as they learn the trials and tribulations of running a football club in the first year or so in charge. Some have been costly such as Kalidou Koulibaly’s move from Napoli not working out, resulting in an abrupt switch to Saudi Arabia.
However, few will be as costly as the player pathway that is currently undetermined by the hierarchy if it continues down the current path. To put it into context, the overall plan for player development needs to be taken into account, where BlueCo have been clear they want to develop top, young talent as part of a longer-term self-sustaining model.
That conveyer belt of talent has to start somewhere, so the £1billion spend in transfers has reflected that in landing the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and more. That’s opened them up to criticism both on and off the pitch as these players need time to gain experience and consistency amongst a changing spine of a team.
Off the pitch, the view is a small price for setting up a system that will allow players to filter through to a first-team ready level. The purchase of RC Strasbourg as part of a multi-club model comes with the view of providing a potential pathway for players in a wider system – similar to that of City Football Group and the Red Bull Group.
That will take time to set up though, needing to overhaul several clubs at their basic level to create a global scouting and development network. In the here and now, the Blues are at risk of wasting some of their own talent and risking the foundations this plan will be built on.
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Their acquisition of lots of young talent has put question marks over the plan for current development of both the academy players and those bought for the future. Take Andrey Santos, for example: a young Brazilian midfielder that has impressed in his short career so far.
If there was a plan over his next steps, there hasn’t been the semblance of one so far as he joined Premier League side Nottingham Forest. That immediately brought up questions over how many minutes he would be guaranteed – which after seven games in the league, is a grand total of zero.
Forest have been known to churn through players at a similar rate to Chelsea at this stage, meaning there was simply no guarantee the youngster would develop. Compare that to elsewhere in Europe or potentially stepping down to the Championship, where minutes would be guaranteed and the coaching setup would suit an up and coming youngster over results.
It risks wasting time over a promising talent purely from not seeming to have a clear plan over which steps need to be carefully planned for the development. Similar can be said of Bashir Humphreys, who may be in a slightly better position, but still faced uncertainty.
The young defender impressed in his spells with the first-team last season and coming into this campaign, there were potential chances at getting into the team. He was kept around for most of the summer until deadline day, where a last minute decision was made to send him on loan to Swansea City.
While the Championship outfit have a good record when it comes to coaching youngsters, just the two league appearances isn’t ideal. That may have been less of an issue if a decision was made on whether to confirm a loan sooner rather than later in the window, once again questioning the development plan.
One final example is Cesare Casadei, who joined from Inter Milan last year before making a loan switch to Reading for the season. While his spell with the Royals ended in relegation to League One, there were plenty of positives taken from the individual performances of the Italian midfielder.
Fast forward to pre-season and the youngster was involved with Chelsea’s tour of the USA, which will come as a slight positive but came with risk. That being if a loan to a division below was desired, then their season would have already started by the time he returns to England.
That was exactly what happened as he moved to recently-relegated Leicester City after the Championship had gotten underway. In doing so, Casadei has had to catch up with the rest of the team that are learning their trade under new head coach Enzo Maresca, meaning it would take time.
Casadei has made appearances from the bench but has been limited in actually starting and now faces a potential season of few minutes. Once again, this appears to be down to poor planning when it comes to how the youngster will actually develop for the time ahead.
There’s no doubt that it’s tough during this time of transition for Chelsea to be able to have everything sorted like a well oiled machine, but the reality is that potential talent has been wasted and years will have been taken off the project as a whole without a proper development plan for these players.
The £1billion transfer spend will speak for itself once the proper impact of it can be felt on the team in the long-term, but this current crop of young talent could be the foundations that the investment can grow from in the future. If that isn’t harnessed properly, then the house of cards may begin to fall.
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