Transfer Centre

Chelsea's Todd Boehly 'blames big summer spending on previous regime'

By Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter | 05 September 2022

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly allegedly believes that the business conducted by his predecessors Roman Abramovich and Marina Granovskaia cost the club in excess of £100m.

Chelsea's new chairman and co-controlling owner Todd Boehly allegedly believes that the business conducted by his predecessors Roman Abramovich and Marina Granovskaia cost the club in excess of £100m.

The West Londoners were the highest spenders across Europe in this summer's transfer window, forking out around £270m on nine new players.

Wesley Fofana was the club's most expensive signing at around £70m, while Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria have also moved to Stamford Bridge.

Youngsters Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei and Gabriel Slonina were three more names snapped up by Chelsea, although the latter has returned to Chicago Fire on loan.

Boehly has immediately put his stamp on the Blues, but according to intermediary Saif Rubie, the American owner believes that he was forced to make changes to Thomas Tuchel's squad due to decisions made by former owner Abramovich and former director Granovskaia.

Chelsea new owner Todd Boehly is seen in the stands before the match on May 7, 2022 © Reuters

This summer, the West Londoners prioritised replacing defensive duo Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, who ran down their contract and left the club for free before joining Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

Meanwhile, academy graduates Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi are two names who were allowed to leave the club last year on permanent deals, with the former joining AC Milan and the latter signing for Crystal Palace.

Rubie, who worked on the deal which saw Rudiger leave Chelsea, told the Daily Mail: "The new regime had to come and pick up the pieces of decisions that were made by the old regime.

"Things like letting the lad (Guehi) go to Crystal Palace, who was also a defender, letting another (Tomori) go for not a lot of money to AC Milan.

"When I spoke to the new regime, I said the old regime cost you £100m. Do you know what they said to me? "More"."

New Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger pictured on June 20, 2022 © Reuters

When asked specifically about Rudiger and his exit, Rubie added: "What if I told you Chelsea, and the old regime, basically made next to no effort to keep the player. At the time he was very happy to stay and potentially be the captain of the club.

"He was offered a contract that was half the amount Romelu Lukaku were earning."

Lukaku was one of over a dozen first-team departures in the summer window, with the striker re-joining Inter Milan on loan just 12 months after Chelsea sign him for a club-record £97.5m.

The likes of Timo Werner, Marcos Alonso, Billy Gilmour and Emerson Palmieri have all left the club on permanent deals, while Ross Barkley mutually agreed to terminate his contract at the end of last month before joining Nice on a free transfer last Sunday.

Chelsea currently sit sixth in the Premier League table – five points behind leaders Arsenal – after winning three of their opening six matches, including last weekend's 2-1 victory against London rivals West Ham United.