Most neutrals have spent much of the past 12 months having a good laugh at Todd Boehly and Chelsea. The new Chelsea manager threw money around like it was going out of fashion, both on players and managers, and his side finished 11th in last season’s Premier League.
There was no doubt that, in the long term, the business they did in terms of buying players would prove fruitful as they added some of the best under 23 players in Europe but still, 11th place is disgraceful for a club like Chelsea – especially given the outlay.
Now it’s their time to laugh back though.
Having gone into the summer with serious pressure to bring in vast sums via sales to balance their budget against FFP, Chelsea have not only dug themselves out of the hole but they have done so in hugely impressive style.
First they shipped two unwanted players, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy, to Saudi Arabian clubs willing to commit large salaries to players. They took a significant hit on the Koulibaly deal, they paid £33 million for the Senegalese defender last summer and received £17 million for him this summer, but the alternative was a series of endless loans to Italian clubs with no intention of making the deal permanent.
There may well be another player heading that direction from Chelsea with rumours of interest in Piere-Emerick Aubameyang from multiple clubs in the Pro League, but it appears like Hakim Ziyech has failed a medical and will not be seeing mass amounts of cash land in his bank account.
There may be some controversy over these deals but given the fees being paid for the players are not outlandish it’s unlikely that any investigation will take place into the links between the Saudi PIF and Chelsea’s owners Clearlake Capital.
Chelsea continued their selling spree by agreeing a £25 million deal with Manchester City for Mateo Kovacic. The treble winners were looking for a replacement for Ilkay Gundogan, and the vastly experienced Croatian fits the bill. He brings his vast talent and a winning mentality to City, and will fit in well with Guardiola’s team of serial-winners.
The big moves to fix their balance sheet have come in the last week though, with Kai Havertz going to Arsenal and a deal now being agreed for Mason Mount.
Arsenal have agreed to pay a staggering £65 million for Havertz, whose time at Chelsea can only be described as a disappointment. Having arrived from Bayer Leverkusen for £72 million as one of the most highly touted young players in Europe, Havertz simply hasn’t delivered what was expected.
He will always have a place in Chelsea folklore because of his winning goal in the Champions League Final against Manchester City but he hasn’t lived up to the billing.
For Chelsea to get a £65 million fee for a player with only two years left on his deal, who looks positionless and lacks the pace and physicality required from a Premier League attacker, is a great return for them.
Of course, it could prove to be decent value for Arsenal if Mikel Arteta can unlock his talent. It remains to be seen what role he will have in the team, with the Granit Xhaka left sided role in midfield seeming most likely. It’s an awkward fit, he lacks Xhaka’s defensive awareness but is a better player on the ball. Xhaka did have, by far, his best season for Arsenal though so it will be interesting to see if Havertz is an immediate improvement.
They followed that up by doing a long, complicated, seemingly unnecessary dance with Manchester United over Mason Mount. Mount’s contract was due to end next summer, and he has just completed the worst season of his career to date. He’s also recovering from a season ending pelvic injury that required surgery.
In a world where Mount had multiple years left on his deal, a fee of £60m would have seemed fair. But with one year left? Chelsea have taken United for a ride.
Mount is a good player, but he’s an awkward fit at United. The idea of him replacing Christian Eriksen in midfield seems strange. He lacks Eriksen’s passing and ability to dictate the tempo of a game. He has very little experience playing in midfield, having largely been used in a front three at Chelsea in the last few years. He has, of course played as a number 10 but that is the role Bruno Fernandes will almost certainly fill.
For United, Mount seems more like high level cover on the left, as a 10 and even on the right, but in midfield? With Bruno and Casemiro as a three? How many red cards are United looking for Casemiro to receive next season?
Chelsea deserve massive amounts of credit for how they’ve handled their sales this summer, they’ve brought in £183m already and that will rise to around £195m once Ruben Loftus-Cheek completes his move to AC Milan.
With Callum Hudson-Odoi, Malang Sarr, Christian Pulisic, and of course Aubameyang and Ziyech, all likely to leave they’ll likely have not just fixed their FFP issues but given themselves some additional cash to spend this summer.
