Todd Boehly insisted Chelsea “are going to figure it out” having “learned a lot” after a disastrous full season.
- Chelsea winless in the last nine games
- Spent over £600 million on transfers
- Boehly says lessons learnt
WHAT HAPPENED? There was much enthusiasm among Chelsea fans when the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium completed the purchase of Chelsea for a reported fee of £4.25 billion ($5.2bn). The new owners kept no stone unturned in their first full season in charge to build a formidable squad and spent over £600 million on transfers. However, their efforts have not paid dividends as Chelsea are staring at a season without silverware and Champions League qualification. But Boehly has urged the fans to keep faith in the management as they are going to figure it out from the next season onwards.
WHAT THEY SAID: “It is such a global sport (football). Unlike in the US, there are no unions. So there is a market for top players for every country in the world. And each one of those markets is different. You got the Portuguese market, the France market, the English market. You have to build a team and obviously the coach is the conductor of the team. So I think there is a lot we have learned,” he stated in conversation with Milken Institute chairman, Michael Milken in Beverley Hills.
“The fans are demanding. You know they want to win and we get that we want to win so you know I think our view though was that this is a long-term project and you know we’re committed to the long-term. We very much believe that we’re going to figure it out. We’ve got the best league in the world, we’ve got what I think is the top city in the world and we’ve got an unbelievable location in the top city in the world.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Chelsea’s new ‘conductor’ is likely to be former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino who remains in pole position to take charge at Stamford Bridge. It is believed that the Argentine is already assembling his backroom staff and wants to rope in Jesus Perez as assistant manager. Toni Jimenez would arrive as the goalkeeping coach and be joined by his son Sebastiano, who will work as a sports scientist.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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WHAT NEXT? Chelsea would be desperate to return to winning ways when they make a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday in the Premier League.
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