BIZARRE wonderkid signings prove Chelsea have NO transfer plan under Boehly

Suraj Radia

• 8 Aug 2024 19:00 BST
• 4 min read

Chelsea’s extravagant spending is set to continue this summer with more wonderkids joining their bloated squad and leaving questions over the strange transfer policy in place at Stamford Bridge.

With the signing of Aaron Anselmino already taking their spending to €129 million this summer – second only to Aston Villa in the Premier League – Chelsea are now set to bring in teenagers Gabriel Mec and Mike Penders for fees in excess of €20m each.

Mec would stay at Gremio for another two years until he turns 18 while Penders will spend this season on loan at Genk, the club he currently plays for.

READ MORE: Every wonderkid signed under Todd Boehly for Chelsea

Curiously, Mec has not played for Gremio’s first team while Penders has made one senior appearance for Genk, yet the 19-year-old will become the most expensive goalkeeper to leave Belgium despite his inexperience.

Anselmino will also stay at Boca Juniors until the end of the season after his €16.5m transfer was confirmed, leaving Chelsea splashing nearly €60m on teenagers who will not even play for the club anytime soon.

Having spent more than €1 billion on players since the takeover in 2022, Todd Boehly and Clearlake appear to be relying on a scattergun approach to wonderkids that are closer to leaving Chelsea in financial disarray rather than challenging for titles.

Maresca left to clean up Chelsea’s transfer mess

Chelsea’s €1.2bn outlay under Boehly is nearly double the amount of Paris Saint-Germain, who have spent the second-most of any team since Clearlake’s takeover two summers ago.

The Blues spent more than €460m on players last season, including nearly €60m on Deivid Washington, Angelo Gabriel and Lesley Ugochukwu, who have played just 300 league minutes between them and have no real clarity over their roles with the club.

READ MORE: Premier League summer transfers 2024: All the Done Deals

With just six foreign loan spots available to Chelsea, the futures of players such as Caleb Wiley, Cesare Casadei and David Datro Fofana also need to be determined and the market to make a quick profit on any of their youngsters appears to be slim.

Chelsea have clearly opted to splash out on young, unproven talent with the idea that even one player turning into a superstar and being sold for major profit would justify their approach.

But the club seem more likely to be left as they are now – battling PSR constraints and with a squad of more than 40 senior players with just three weeks remaining of the transfer window.

While some players such as the incoming Estevao Willian or Kendry Paez may go on to become world beaters, the abundance of players to compete with, combined with the need to constantly sell to appease financial regulations, will only hinder their development.

There does not appear to be a concise plan at Chelsea, be it with squad building, transfer spending or managerial stability and the pressure will fall onto Enzo Maresca to navigate through his inexperience and make sense of a bizarre situation handed to him by his superiors.