Chelsea spend world record €296m and have not improved at all
FT Desk
- 7 Sept 2022 09:10 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea spent more money than any other club in the summer transfer window, signing the likes of Wesley Fofana and Raheem Sterling, but results on the pitch haven't followed.
Todd Boehly replaced Roman Abramovich in ownership of Chelsea in May, and has been good to his word of investing heavily in Thomas Tuchel's playing squad.
Fofana's £75m/€87m acquisition from Leicester will make the young Frenchman the most expensive defender of all-time. Marc Cucurella's £62m/€72m move from Brighton means he is the costliest left-back outright.
Chelsea spending money in the transfer market: pic.twitter.com/uFamAR9Cfv
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) September 6, 2022
And yet Chelsea have shipped 10 goals in seven games in all competitions, losing three of their last five, which culminated in a 1-0 upset loss to Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League E on Tuesday.
In Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly, the Blues lined up with more than €190m worth of new talent at the Stadion Maksimir, while Cucurella replaced Ben Chilwell for the final 20 minutes.
Chelsea Blues
And yet Chelsea could only muster three shots on target. They are now under pressure to get their campaign back on track against Red Bull Salzburg and AC Milan.
"We are clearly not there, where we need to be and where we can be," Thomas Tuchel lamented after the latest abject defeat. So, it's on me, it's on us, we need to find solutions.
"At the moment, everything is missing," he later reflected on BT Sport. "[There is] too much to analyse. I'm a part of it. I am angry at myself; I am angry at our performance. I didn't see it coming.
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"We need to be much better. We are not finished; we are not happy, but I thought we were on a good way. I am surprised by this performance."
In Tuchel's defence, he lost two of his back three on free transfers at the end of last season with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leaving on free transfers to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, with uncertainty surrounding the club's future under Abramovich's ownership.
The German tactician still need to get his side clicking soon, though, or, as he recognises, the finger might start getting pointed at him.
