
7 February 2023 - 4:47 PM
Photo
Alamy | Chairman of Chelsea Football Club, Todd Boehly.
Boehly’s spending spree at Chelsea: “This is investment banking coming to football”
- While the big-scale signing of players by Nottingham Forest this season has been met with laughter, the football industry seems less confident when scrutinising what is going on at Chelsea.
- There seems to be a masterplan behind the aggressive spending by the American owner of Chelsea. But observers agree he is taking a risky path. “In a poker game this would be considered going all in,” one source says.
- Why it matters: Todd Boehly represents a new type of ownership among the biggest clubs in Europe. This is just the start, and stakeholders in European football should get used to this speed-growth approach.
- The perspective: Chelsea might be close to crossing the line in terms of what EPL and UEFA can ignore when it comes to transfer spending and wages-to-turnover, but Boehly seems to be on solid ground and can avoid being penalised.
Jürgen Klopp was probably expressing just what many football industry observers were thinking, as he witnessed Chelsea signing no less than eight new players in the January transfer window for a total of €330 million.
“I don’t understand this part of the business, what can you do or not do? But it’s a big number. Obviously, the last two windows, I didn’t think once - why did they do that? They’re all good players. Really good players. So from that point of view, congratulations
Get instant access by signing up for a 7-day free trial
No credit card, no commitments, and it will expire automatically.
You will receive a link that activates your trial in an email.