 |
A normal team might need several transfer windows to refresh its squad. But Chelsea under Todd Boehly are different: each summer is a financial market-sized overhaul, with players coming and going at a dizzying pace and squad lists as long as an almanac.
The summer of 2025 will see another large-scale “clean-up” – and this time, the figure of more than 170 million euros is just the beginning.
Cut to live, sell to survive
Enzo Maresca had not even played a game when he was forced to solve a conundrum: how to coach a squad of more than 40 men? The simple answer: impossible. Chelsea had to sell, and they sold with the speed and determination of a venture capital fund.
João Félix, Noni Madueke, Kepa, Petrovic, Bashir Humphreys, Mathis Amougou… left one after another, bringing Chelsea nearly 175 million euros - mostly from names once labeled "the future of the club". But at Stamford Bridge at the moment, "future" is a very volatile concept - just a new coach and a few million pound contracts are enough to wipe out a generation.
Since Boehly took over, Chelsea have spent more than €1.6 billion on more than 50 players. And in order to avoid violating Financial Fair Play, they have no choice but to turn players into commodities, those who no longer have a place in their plans are immediately put up for sale. In some ways, Stamford Bridge is like a logistics company: constantly importing and exporting, constantly rotating the flow of players.
The madness reached its peak when Chelsea entered the summer of 2025 with... 17 strikers on the registration list. Enzo Maresca understood that to build a decent team, the first thing to do was to cut down on numbers.
 |
Raheem Sterling is about to leave Chelsea. |
Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja, David Datro Fofana, Deivid Washington: all are out of the plans and are just waiting to leave. Nicolas Jackson, once expected to be the “new number 9”, has now lost his place after a series of inconsistent performances and two red cards. Christopher Nkunku - if anyone asks - is also “open for negotiations”.
Marc Guiu, 19, once trusted, is now loaned to Sunderland. Meanwhile, expensive contracts such as Estevão, João Pedro or Jamie Bynoe-Gittens are naturally kept, despite not playing a single minute in the Premier League. Very Chelsea logic: whoever arrives always has priority.
Excess and surplus
Not only the attack, Chelsea's defense is also having a headache because of "personnel overload". Disasi, Badiashile, Chilwell, Caleb Wiley are all on the list of players to be pushed out. Meanwhile, young players like Mamadou Sarr, Anselmino may have to leave the club on loan to gain experience - because even the bench is... overloaded.
The midfield is also not immune to the Maresca scythe. Ugochukwu, Dewsbury-Hall, Chukwuemeka (although playing quite well at Dortmund) can all pack up and leave. They are not lacking in talent, just... there is no room. With a team that recruits players almost continuously all year round, no one can rest assured.
It is said that Enzo Maresca was given full freedom to build Chelsea the way he wanted. But to “build”, he was forced to “clean” – ruthlessly. All the personnel plans of the previous season were almost completely wiped out. Contracts that were once expected were now quietly gone as if they had never been there.
Chelsea under Boehly abandoned the concept of stability. Instead, it adopted the philosophy of “flexible investment”: buy quickly, sell quickly, cut losses, and rotate capital. But football is not just a balance sheet. A squad needs time to stabilize, a coach needs time to shape his philosophy. If Chelsea continues to spin around in this cycle of buying - selling - liquidating - replacing blood like this, when will they find themselves again?
 |
Mudryk is uncertain about his future at Chelsea. |
Among the remaining names, the case of Mudryk is an “unsolved problem”. Bought for nearly 100 million euros, lackluster performance, sky-high salary - and no one wants to buy. Keeping it is a waste, selling it is not worth the price. Mudryk is now a symbol of a Chelsea stuck between financial ambition and football reality.
There’s no denying that Chelsea are doing a great job of selling players – a skill that used to be their weakness. But if the club is reduced to a place for quarterly “restructuring” and dressing rooms become Excel spreadsheets, how much of football – the emotional art – is left?
Enzo Maresca is trying to clean up the mess his predecessor left behind. But he needs more than just a clean-up. He needs time, trust, and most importantly: a consistent plan. Because if he keeps changing the team every season, Stamford Bridge will remain an unfinished construction site - with no end in sight.
Source: https://znews.vn/chelsea-qua-ky-la-post1573705.html
Comment (0)