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By Jonathan Lewis | 6th Mar 2023
Chelsea was one of the league’s busiest clubs in the January transfer window. They have made heavy investments, adding players like Joao Felix and Noni Madueke. Enzo Fernandez is their most expensive signing at £106.8 million, while Mykhailo Mudryk stands in second after being signed for £88.5 million.
This January, Chelsea has spent more than £300 million on players, more than the entire Premier League spent in this window the previous year. It marks the first time a single team has spent more than the other four significant leagues.
The question is, “Will these spendings place them in the top five EPL clubs?” Or will the Chelsea transfer window’s spending bring regret? We shall provide answers to these questions in this text. Here, we also explore details about the newly signed players in the club and the potential they bring to the table.
Chelsea smashes January transfer window
The Blues have undoubtedly made headlines thanks to the over £300 million spent signing new players during the January transfer window. Below are the eight new signings:
- David Datro Fofana: Chelsea confirmed before the season opened that they would be signing Ivorian striker David Datro Fofana. The board finalized the deal once the window opened.
- Benoit Badiashile: Monaco defender Badiashile was Chelsea’s second window signing for around £35m. The 21-year-old signed a seven-and-a-half-year contract with the club.
- Andrey Santos: The midfielder left Vasco da Gama in Brazil for an undisclosed fee. Santos made his senior team debut in 2021 after joining Vasco’s academy at seven.
- Joao Felix: Felix, a Portuguese player on a six-month loan from Atletico Madrid, became the fourth new player to join Stamford Bridge.
- Enzo Fernandez: On the deadline of the January transfer, the club secured a move for Enzo Fernandez for a record fee of £106.8m, making him the most expensive Chelsea transfer.
- Malo Gusto: Malo, a highly regarded French fullback, joined Chelsea on a seven-and-a-half-year deal for £26.3m.
- Noni Madueke: The 20-year-old cost Chelsea about £29 million and has signed a contract to find him at the club for the next seven and a half years.
- Mykhailo Mudryk: Chelsea made headlines by signing him first after the Ukrainian was reportedly close to signing with Arsenal. The highly regarded winger signed a contract with the Blues until 2030 for an £88.5 million transfer fee.
Graham Potter, the team’s manager, hopes his eight winter arrivals can inspire a significantly improved second half of the season. This is after enduring a disappointing campaign characterized by management changes and below-par performances.
Current Chelsea form concerns their fans ahead of Top-5
Chelsea is undoubtedly one of the best football teams in the world and has won numerous trophies and accolades. Thanks to their popularity, online bookies offer betting options for their matches. You can learn more about these markets by reading Bookmakers.bet reviews.
However, they have not gotten off to a good start in the 2022–23 season and fired their manager, Thomas Tuchel, just a month after the season began. Unfortunately, their first game under new manager Graham Potter wasn’t exactly a resounding success. The match against RB Salzburg in the Champions League group stage ended in a draw (1-1).
Following the club’s slump, which was capped by a 4-0 loss to Manchester City on Sunday, fans demanded the dismissal of coach Graham Potter. After the FA Cup loss, the Blues were eliminated from all domestic cup competitions, and they had won only two of their previous ten games and lost six. The last unsuccessful result against Southampton for EPL intensifies the pressure on the London Blues staff.
Despite the losing streak since the World Cup and pressure from the fans, Todd Boehly seems confident in Potter’s performance. CBS Sports reported that during the international break, Graham Potter spoke with Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali. The head coach left feeling sure that the club wouldn’t change managers because of its run of bad luck.
Can the new blood save the year for London Blues?
Chelsea may have spent millions on new players; however, unless they can win Europe shortly, their inaugural season under new ownership will conclude a season without trophies. They are currently 10 points behind the top four teams in the English Premier League. So, winning the Champions League for a third time may be Chelsea’s best route back into the competition next season, but we all understand this would be more than challenging.
Potter has had to keep the peace in a large, 33-man first-team group while also dealing with injured players and a slew of January recruits. The former Brighton manager will have to make difficult decisions for the remainder of his team’s European season.
Additionally, UEFA’s squad registration restrictions caused an issue for Chelsea because of the large number of new players they brought in the previous month. Clubs are only permitted to sign up three new players throughout the group stage and knockout rounds of a season and teams are limited to 25 players. As a result, Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, and Andrey Santos were left out of Chelsea’s Champions League team. Malo Gusto will spend the rest of the season on loan at Lyon.
However, the three newcomers—Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Enzo Fernandez—should bring firepower and a creative flair to a team that is sorely lacking in goal threat. Each of the three has, at some point in their careers, commanded a 100-million-euro fee. Though still young, these three seem to show the best potential and have cost the club considerably.
The coach is also conscious that fans’ patience is running thin. Plus, the club’s hire-and-fire ethics under the club’s former owner, Roman Abramovich, have become a trend. So, while Todd still has faith in Potter’s abilities, the coach is still under pressure to push the club above its current status and get better results. Otherwise, the consortium of investors might turn to a new manager to get them their return on investment for the vast amount spent in transfers. Thus, Potter hopes the fresh blood of their new acquirements to bring back life at Stamford Bridge.