When you think of Chelsea Football Club, you think of one of the biggest soccer/football clubs in the world.
Whether you are a fan of the club or not, this is a statement of fact. After all, Chelsea have won five English Premier League titles (plus one title from the old English First Division), eight FA Cups, two UEFA Champions Leagues, and, most recently, the FIFA Club World Cup, among other titles. The Blues from Fulham Road have won every major trophy possible, and they are the only team to have won all three UEFA competitions: the UCL, UEFA Europa League, and the UEFA Conference League.
According to Forbes’ 2025 report, Chelsea is the 10th most valuable soccer team in the world at 3.25 billion US Dollars. They are a global brand as well. Their fanbase stretches from the UK to other parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and beyond.
Over the years, Chelsea had many star players play for them. That includes Peter Osgood, Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli, Ruud Gullit, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Eden Hazard, N’golo Kanté, Diego Costa, and Thiago Silva. The current stars are Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, and Reece James. These players are and were among the best in the world.
Chelsea was also home to many great coaches, including Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte, and Thomas Tuchel.
When Chelsea won the FIFA Club World Cup last summer, it looked like they were back after nearly three years of chaos under their new American ownership. But over six months after the triumph over PSG in New Jersey, Chelsea is still in chaos.
The end of the Abramovich era
Chelsea’s success is owed to Roman Abramovich. The Russian businessman bought the club from Ken Bates in 2003. From there, Chelsea became a soccer superpower.
During Abramovich’s 19-year reign, Chelsea won 21 trophies. They had great teams full of star players and were led by great coaches. and a state of the art training facility was built at Cobham. Abramovich changed European football forever as teams started spending more on players and foreign billionaires bought clubs. (Such as Manchester City being bought by Saudi Arabian oil tycoons in 2008, and they also became a soccer powerhouse.)
In a rare interview in 2021 with Forbes, Abramovich stated he didn’t buy Chelsea for purely financial reasons. He wanted to be part of the community and create a better community. Abramovich saw Chelsea as a community and football as a part of life. In short, he cared about the club and loved winning.
But thanks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was forced to sell Chelsea due to UK government sanctions on Russian businesses. After a huge bidding war, Abramovich sold Chelsea to an American consortium for around 5.2 billion USD in May 2022. At the time, it was the biggest sale of a professional sports team.
Behdad Eghbali: The man behind Chelsea’s downfall
So who was this American consortium?
It was led by Todd Boehly, CEO the founder and CEO of Eldridge Industries, a holding company based out of Greenwich, Connecticut. He became Chelsea’s chairman after the takeover was complete. Boehly also owns stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers of the MLB, the NBA’s LA Lakers, and the WNBA’s LA Sparks.
The other parts of the consortium were financed by Clearlake Capital, a private investment firm headquartered in Santa Monica, California. They are led by Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano. Then the consortium is also made up of Mark Walter, who also owns the LA Dodgers (27% stake), majority owner of the Lakers, minority owner of the Sparks, and owner of the PWHL. Finally, Chelsea is also owned by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who founded Synthes, a medical device manufacturer.
Together, the consortium is called BlueCo.
Since BlueCo took over, the spotlight has been all on Boehly. After all, he was the face of the consortium and was frequently seen at matches, at training, and even in transfer negotiations. That was because Chelsea had no sporting director in the summer of 2022 due to the previous sporting director, Marina Granovskaia, leaving shortly after the takeover. So Boehly had no choice but to name himself sporting director and back then-manager Thomas Tuchel on signings. Among the players signed were Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, and Cucurella. A few months later, Brighton & Hove Albion’s head of scouting, Paul Winstanley, and AS Monaco Technical Director Laurence Stewart were brought in and named co-sporting directors.
Boehly, being the face of the consortium, has faced a lot of heat. A lot of it is justified, and he made plenty of mistakes. However, it is worth noting that Boehly is not the majority owner of Chelsea. He only owns a a 12.8% stake in the club. The same goes for Walter and Wyss. That means the majority owners of Chelsea are Behdad Eghbali and Clearlake Capital, who own 61.5% of the club.
Since Clearlake got more settled in, Boehly has stepped back from the decision-making. He is still involved but doesn’t make as many decisions as he did in summer 2022. Walter and Wyss also do not play a role in daily decision-making. The real decision maker at Chelsea is Behdad Eghbali, and at Clearlake Capital.
Yes, Eghbali is the one making decisions. He leads the hiring of coaches and transfer decisions, among other things. Eghbali has been described as very “hands-on,” so that means he is around a lot. It has been reported that Chelsea is Eghbali’s “passion project.”
So what is Eghbali’s model for Chelsea? Well, it is to follow the model of fellow Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. Here he is speaking about this in 2022. Brighton have never won a major trophy and constantly finish mid-table in the EPL. They are known for being a club run on data, scouting players, and buying them for cheap and selling them for profit.
He also emphasizes developing youth and using the multi-club model, like how teams in the MLB and NHL have farm systems. There are many multi-club models, including Manchester City’s City Football Group Limited, which owns clubs such as NYCFC and Melbourne City. There is also Red Bull’s multiclub model that owns clubs in New York, Leipzig, and Salzburg. In 2023, BlueCo acquired a majority stake in Ligue 1 side Strausbourg as part of their multi-club model.
It is worth noting that Eghbali has stated that Chelsea were “not terribly well managed on the football, sporting or promotional side under Roman Abramovich.” So, in other words, Eghbali wanted Chelsea to be a youth-first, buy low, sell high club. How did that turn out?
Spend, Spend, Spend! Not on stars, but kids!
It has been very, very, very bad.
Chelsea was a disaster in 2022-23 and finished 12th in the EPL. They then finished sixth in 2023-24. 2024-25 brought them success with a fourth-place finish and Conference League and Club World Cup titles. So far in 2025-26, they sit sixth in the EPL, two points behind fourth-place Liverpool.
Under Eghbali, Clearlake, and BlueCo, the club has spent over 1.5 billion British Pounds on players. Many of them have not even played a game for Chelsea, or have barely played. They have either been loaned out constantly, injured, or sold for profit. This is because Eghbali is reportedly obsessed with player trading. Since Clearlake is an investment firm, Eghbali has the stockbroker mindset: Buy low and sell high. But these are professional athletes, not stocks. However, a few players have worked out. For instance, Palmer is a star, and so are Caicedo and Cucurella. Malo Gusto has been a solid depth right-back, and Fofana has been very good when fit. Enzo Fernandez, the club record signing bought for around 106 million pounds from Benfica in January 2023, has been one of Chelsea’s leaders.
The sporting directors, Winstanley and Stewart, are on board with buying young players with the hopes of them becoming first-team stars or sold for profit. The model under them and Clearlake is to exclusively buy players 25 or younger. That means no proven players in their prime or veterans. Well, unless they are free like Tosin Adarabioyo, a centre-back who was signed on a free from Fulham in the summer of 2024. He was 26 when he signed, but has been poor and is mainly a depth player, not a starter.
The club has turned away from experienced players mainly due to wages. For instance, Sterling earns around 325,000 pounds per week, and they have tried to get rid of him, but there have been no takers, mainly because of his wages and the fact that he wants to stay in London for family reasons. Right now, he has been banished from training with the first team.
In June of 2024, they tried to sign former academy product and French international winger Michael Olise. But Chelsea pulled out of the deal because Winstanley, Stewart, and Eghbali did not want to break the club’s internal wage structure. Olise signed for Bayern Munich and is now one of the best wingers in the world.
A couple of months later, Chelsea pushed to sign Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen from Napoli, one of the best strikers in the world. A fee was agreed, but again, Chelsea did not want to break their wage structure, as Osimhen was asking for a lucrative wage. Osimhen was then banished from the first team due to Napoli manager Antonio Conte not having him in his plans, and went on loan to Galatasaray in Turkey. Months later, he signed for the Turkish giants permanently and continues to be one of the world’s elite strikers. The Chelsea brass like to keep the wages relatively low and base them on incentives and bonuses. Osimhen was reportedly offered less than half his Napoli salary by Chelsea during negotiations in terms of base salary.
Winstanley and Stewart are very proactive in signing teenagers. For instance, they signed 17-year-old fullback Yisa Alao from Sheffield United on Thursday. It feels like they have 6000 teenagers in their system. But when it comes to signing players with experience, they falter.
Last summer, Chelsea had the chance to sign French captain and AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan before the Club World Cup. But they were unwilling to pay the 20 to 25 million pound fee and were five million short. So Chelsea can splurge over 48 million on an unproven winger in Jamie Gittens but not 20 million on a world-class goalkeeper. Yet Chelsea has at least eight goalkeepers in their system, many of whom are unproven. At least Robert Sanchez’s form has improved this season.
After the Club World Cup, Chelsea had a massive opportunity to prove they can challenge for trophies by making statement signings. Yet they signed Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United (one of the worst dribblers in the Premier League last season) and Facundo Buanonote on loan from Brighton (again, Brighton) instead. Buanonote has barely played for Chelsea, and his loan has been cut short and is now at Leeds on loan from Brighton.
Chelsea also needed a centre-back last season but didn’t get one. So even after winning the Club World Cup, Chelsea didn’t improve. Their backline looks leaky, their midfield looks tired at times, and their attack has been woeful. Joao Pedro, who signed from Brighton, looked to be the striker of the future for Chelsea during the Club World Cup, but has since been inconsistent. Liam Delap was signed from Ipswich Town for his potential, strength, and shooting, but has only one Premier League goal and has tried to fight opponents more often than scoring. Garnacho and Pedro Neto have been killing Chelsea’s attack on the wings. Garnacho can’t beat his man, and Neto takes too long to hold onto the ball and makes the wrong decision more often than not.
So yes, that is horrible squad planning. No wonder Chelsea are in sixth place. Eghbali, Winstanley, and Stewart care more about player trading and making profits than winning and competing for trophies.
The….unique sporting director lineup
Speaking of Winstanley and Stewart, they are labeled as the main sporting directors of Chelsea. But believe it or not, they actually have five.
Winstanley and Stewart lead a “leadership team” made up of three other sporting directors. It seems they don’t have much say under Eghbali, Winstanley, and Stewart. Joe Shields is listed as sporting director for scouting and talent. He previously worked as chief scout for Southampton and a youth scout for Manchester City, Crystal Palace, and Fulham. Sam Jewell is sporting director for global recruiting and was previously at, you guessed it, Brighton as head of scouting and youth chief scout. Jewell is also the Director of Professional Football and a scout with Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg. The newest member is Dave Fallows, who spent many years as Liverpool’s Director of Scouting and was instrumental in bringing Mohamed Salah to Liverpool. Fallows joined Chelsea in November and is the sporting director of football development. He also deals with scouting, data, loans, and player and staff development.
It is one thing to have two sporting directors, but five is excessive. Why not call Shields, Jewell, and Fallows assistants? Who knows with Chelsea? It feels like there are too many cooks.
In case you are wondering Chelsea does have a technical director, and his name is Glenn van der Kraan, and he joined in 2024 from Manchester City.
Speaking of Man City, as mentioned, Shields was their youth scout a few years ago. He has worked with Palmer and Romeo Lavia while they were part of the Man City academy. He also deals with Chelsea’s academy.
Shields used to work at a place called Kinetic Foundation in London. It is an academy combining football with education for at-risk youth. Former Chelsea winger and Manchester City academy product Jadon Sancho has trained with the foundation a few times. Yes, Sancho worked with Shields at Man City.
To make a long story short, Shields has brought in his friends and former staff from Kinetic and his other former clubs to run Chelsea’s academy at Cobham. That includes Calum McFarlane (now assistant coach), Harry Hudson, and Dan Hogan.
In July of 2024, longtime academy directors Neil Bath and Jim Fraser left Chelsea to make way for Eghbali, Winstanley, Stewart, Shields, and the rest of the hierarchy to restructure the academy staff to their liking. Talk about nepotism.
Bath and Fraser were vital in the development of many academy graduates. That includes current Chelsea players James (Chelsea’s captain), Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill, Josh Acheampong, and Tyrique George. That also includes former Chelsea players and academy graduates such as Olise, Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher, Jamal Musiala, Tammy Abraham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Marc Guehi. (who signed for Manchester City from Crystal Palace last week.)
Eghbali and BlueCo have remade Chelsea into their image.
Enzo Maresca, Liam Rosenior, the coaching carousel, and ownership divide
Under Abramovich, managers got sacked often. That was because the team was underperforming and not where they needed to be: Winning titles. In fact, Ancelotti got sacked in 2011 after Chelsea finished second and won zero trophies.
Under Eghbali, it isn’t just results that get managers sacked; it is also about control.
Tuchel was shockingly sacked in September of 2022, one day after Chelsea lost 1-0 to Dynamo Zagreb in the UCL. It wasn’t the results that got Tuchel the boot; it was the fact that he and Eghbali, Boehly, and the ownership group disagreed regarding transfers and other decisions. So, Chelsea brought in Graham Potter from Brighton, a manager BlueCo admired. At the time, Potter was seen as one of the best young managers in the game and was seen as a future England manager.
But Potter lasted just eight months as Chelsea with a 7-7-8 record in the EPL. He was let go, and a week later, Lampard was brought back as interim manager. Surely it couldn’t have been any worse? It was. Lampard won just one out of his nine Premier League games in charge.
Then came former Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino. This hire made sense because he was great at working with young players and was experienced at managing top clubs, unlike Potter. But the Argentinian lasted just one season and was let go.
Chelsea did struggle under Pochettino, especially defensively. Plus, his training regimens caused many injuries and re-injuries. Like Tuchel, he disagreed with the owners and sporting directors over the club’s transfer policy and model and wanted more say.
So what Eghbali needed was a Yes Man. Winstanley and Stewart found one in Enzo Maresca, who won the 2024 EFL Championship with Leicester City and got them back into the EPL. Maresca was also an up-and-coming coach. Before Leicester, he managed Parma in the 2021-22 season in Serie B, but was sacked after 14 games. Maresca was also an assistant coach with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in the 2022-23 season (Man City won the continental treble that season) and was manager of Man City’s under-23 side that won the PL2 title in 2020-21. You guessed it, he worked with Shields there and also managed Palmer, Lavia, and Delap.
Maresca helped lead Chelsea to a top-four finish and the Conference League and Club World Cup in 2024-25. It was safe to say he met or exceeded expectations. However, Maresca wanted more say in transfers. He wanted a centre back in summer 2025 and didn’t get one. One of the CBs he targeted was reportedly Guehi. Maresca was also keen on signing Maignan, but that never materialized.
On New Year’s Day, Maresca mutually parted ways with Chelsea. They won only one game in their last seven prior. However, there was more. The Italian manager was not happy with the club’s hierarchy, wanted more say on transfers, and was reportedly not happy with the higher-ups telling him how to set his lineups and the medical department telling him how to use players who were coming off or dealing with injuries.
Like Tuchel and Pochettino, Maresca also reportedly fell out with Eghbali over the club’s direction. So Eghbali had to find a new Yes Man, and that is Liam Rosenior, who was plucked from Strasbourg and a (you guessed it) former Brighton player.
Before managing Strasbourg, Rosenoir managed Derby County as an interim in 2022 and managed Hull City for two years. So Chelsea went from Tuchel to a guy whose managerial resume is Derby County, Hull City (where he got sacked), and Strasbourg. Make of that what you will. How long will Rosenior last under Eghbali? Probably less than a year at this rate.
Speaking of Eghbali, he has reportedly had falling outs with Boehly. In September 2024, The Athletic reported that the relationship between the two was at a breaking point. Boehly still agreed with the multi-club model and youth development aspects, but he wanted to sign proven players to increase Chelsea’s brand. He was also not happy with the sacking of Pochettino and wanted one sporting director and one technical director to stay hands-off. Boehly was also not happy with the slow development of a new stadium to replace Stamford Bridge, as well as Eghbali’s reported “micromanaging.”
It would not be surprising if the feud were still happening at this moment. Boehly hasn’t been seen around Stamford Bridge or Chelsea since the Club World Cup.
Is there any hope left for Chelsea?
So, is there any hope left?
Chelsea fans are fed up and hardly have any hope left. Fans are voicing their displeasure on social media and last weekend, protested outside Stamford Bridge before the club’s 2-0 win over Brentford.
Strasbourg fans have voiced their displeasure with BlueCo since the takeover of their club as well.
Fans don’t have any hope left because Eghbali and his crew have no ambition to take the club back to winning levels. It is all about player trading and profits for them. Eghbali reportedly is so obsessed with the Brighton model that he decided to turn Chelsea into Brighton!
It doesn’t matter who the manager is. Chelsea won’t be a winning club until the squad is built for winning. At this rate, players like Caicedo, Palmer, James, or Fernandez could see greener pastures anywhere.
Chelsea is supposed to be one of the biggest clubs in the world, not a mid-table team that sells their best players for profit. The bar has to be winning the EPL, winning domestic cups, and going on deep runs in the UCL. It is not the top four and maybe win a trophy.
At this rate, Chelsea will just sign as many under-25 players as they can, and then do well, maybe win a trophy. Then things will go south, and more young players will be signed instead of proven ones, and Rosenoir will get the sack for another unproven manager.
Right now, why should any top player or manager join Chelsea? It sounds like a nightmare working under Eghbali and the sporting directors.
Boehly has reportedly been looking for funds to buy Eghbali and Clearlake out, but that looks unlikely. Clearlake or BlueCo leaving and selling is also unlikely unless they get a substantial profit. So the only way for things to change is for them to change the model. But will Eghbali do it? That is very doubtful.
One proven player signing would give some hope to Chelsea fans, and frankly, that is all they ask for right now.
