As Chelsea players and staff gathered for one last get-together before going their separate ways this summer, some of the key figures who are taking over ownership of the club were there to join them.
It took a while for people to congregate at a nearby hotel following Chelsea’s 2-1 home win over Watford on the final day of the Premier League season last Sunday. The traditional lap of honour took a lot longer than expected to conclude as players enjoyed spending time with family members on the Stamford Bridge pitch.
Perhaps that is why not every squad member was spotted at the event which followed, but the presence of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali was certainly noted.
They, along with Hansjorg Wyss and Jose Feliciano — two more members of the incoming consortium — had already made a point of greeting all the personnel on the pitch immediately following the Watford match. But attending a post-season function provided another indication of the personal touch the new regime want to employ.
Boehly had already met with head coach Thomas Tuchel and his players earlier in the month. While being shown the facilities at the club’s Cobham training ground, he spoke to members of the squad, some on their own or others in groups, depending on how he came across them (he also spoke with Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes and her players on another visit). But conducting conversations in a more relaxed setting after the win over Watford helped form closer bonds and the American has remained in London since to hold more meetings over what the structure of the club is going to look like post-Roman Abramovich.
Finalising the takeover has been a complicated and difficult process, but the hard work to improve Chelsea on and off the pitch is ahead of them.
Still, many of those who left last Sunday’s event did so with a sense of optimism.
Inevitably, the main thing anyone who follows Chelsea cares about is how much money is available to be spent on new signings.
After finishing with 19 fewer points than title winners Manchester City and 18 adrift of runners-up Liverpool, there is clearly a lot of room for improvement.
The world champions also know they’re losing regular defensive starters Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, so there are two spots in the team that need filling from the outset.
Before we go into all that in more detail, the early indications are that the new owners plan to run things differently from Abramovich.
Take the manager, for example. There were 14 changes of coach, including interims, in 19 years under the Russian. The club talked regularly about wanting stability in the dugout but it never came. Not that it hurt them too much, as they won 19 major trophies during the Abramovich era.
But new ownership means a new philosophy.
It won’t come as an enormous surprise that the incoming group rate Tuchel very highly and so want him to remain in charge.
However, their general aim is to end the hiring-firing policy that went on before. Chelsea haven’t had a manager or head coach last over three years in the job since Jose Mourinho’s first spell from summer 2004 to September 2007. It sounds like Tuchel (and any successors who follow the German) will be given the opportunity to beat that.
There is also a belief that Abramovich didn’t fully maximise the potential of marketing Chelsea abroad and building the club into an even bigger brand. The global fanbase has grown significantly over the past two decades and pre-season tours to the US and Asia have played a part in that, but don’t be surprised if Chelsea are even more aggressive in those markets from now on.
The knock-on benefit of growing the club’s popularity will be more revenue streams, generating money which can be invested in recruitment. But that can’t happen overnight, so what about the budget for this summer?
Talk of Tuchel being given up to £200 million to spend has inevitably generated a lot of excitement. But reaching this figure depends on the kind of sales Chelsea make from the current squad. That £200 million is not believed to be a guaranteed sum.
As Tuchel revealed after the Watford game, he has put his summer holiday on hold so he can get to work on transfer targets. But Chelsea aren’t starting from scratch here.
Even though they have been under UK government sanctions related to Abramovich and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since February, conversations were held on who they would move for once the takeover process was complete. And it should be highlighted that the scouting team monitor potential signings for a long period of time, not just a few weeks.
The first player through the door should be someone who came close to joining Chelsea a year ago — Jules Kounde.
Personal terms on a five-year contract have been agreed with Spanish side Sevilla’s 23-year-old France international centre-back since last summer’s window. The only reason the switch wasn’t completed then is that Sevilla increased the asking price when Chelsea thought a fee of around £42.7 million had been settled, and the west London club walked away.
Sevilla have just sold Kounde’s regular centre-back partner Diego Carlos to Aston Villa for £26 million but Chelsea don’t think that will stop the La Liga club from negotiating the sale of the Frenchman, too. The fee, £50 million-plus, will take a significant chunk out of their overall budget.
Chelsea have looked at other centre-backs as well, including RB Leipzig’s 20-year-old rising star Josko Gvardiol. But with the budget depending on outgoings, Tuchel will also consider adding to his squad from within.
Levi Colwill has impressed on loan at Championship side Huddersfield this season and is being thought of as potentially emulating Trevoh Chalobah, who came through the academy ranks and was promoted to the senior squad last year. Tuchel wants to have a close look at 19-year-old Colwill, who is subject to transfer interest from several clubs, during pre-season.
This spell with Huddersfield is Colwill’s only loan move to date and it might be decided he needs one more, this time to a Premier League club, before declaring him ready to play for Chelsea. Everton are among those interested, but it is understood they are not in the running to sign him right now.
Levi Colwill has impressed on loan at Huddersfield Town (Photo: John Early/Getty Images)
The position of wing-back/full-back is seen as another issue.
After six years at the club, the plan is to offload Marcos Alonso. He is wanted back in his Spanish homeland by Barcelona. Ben Chilwell has recovered well from November’s serious knee injury and will regain his previous status as first-choice on the left-hand side for next season after making his comeback with a brief cameo off the bench in last week’s finale against Watford.
Tuchel is looking to make Emerson Palmieri, the Euro 2020-winning Italy international who spent the season on loan at Lyon in France, Chilwell’s back-up. Chelsea’s manager is a big admirer of Emerson and tried to end his loan early in January after losing Chilwell for the rest of the season, only for the Ligue 1 club to refuse to play ball.
There is still uncertainty over the future of captain Cesar Azpilicueta. He played enough games to automatically trigger a 12-month contract extension but it is believed the 32-year-old Spaniard was given a verbal agreement, before the sanctions kicked in, that he would be allowed to leave this summer.
Barcelona have offered him a better deal for two years with an option for a third, and Tuchel revealed this month that the player has suggested he wants to move on after a decade at Stamford Bridge. However, his team-mates still aren’t sure what will happen and there was no farewell speech or any chat of that ilk from Azpilcueta at that post-Watford function.
That is a bit of a contrast to back-up goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. Observers noted how his goodbyes to team-mates on that Sunday evening were more prolonged than usual, as if it was his last time with them. Kepa wants first-team football to try to get into Spain’s squad for the World Cup in November and December. Newcastle, aiming to push on under news ownership themselves, are among those looking at signing him.
If Kepa goes, Chelsea will be a goalkeeper short of the three all squads aim for, with only first-choice Edouard Mendy and Marcus Bettinelli, whose only appearance last season was in the FA Cup against non-League Chesterfield, to choose from.
They want to purchase Gabriel Slonina from Chicago Fire in MLS, but he only turned 18 a couple of weeks ago, so is one for the future.
A possible contender for a back-up role is the homegrown Nathan Baxter, who has been on six loans so far to clubs in England and Scotland to try to prove he is good enough to make his debut for parent club Chelsea. Hull City, who he played 16 times for in the Championship this season, want to buy him but the 23-year-old will wait to see if he has a chance to make it at Stamford Bridge.
Elsewhere, Chelsea want cover for right wing-back/full-back Reece James, who started only 22 of the 38 Premier League games this season due to injuries.
An academy graduate in contention at this position is Dujon Sterling. Tuchel rates the 22-year-old, who impressed during pre-season with him last summer before being loaned to Championship side Blackpool, where he started 22 league games before an ankle injury in early April cut his season short.
Interestingly, sources suggest Chelsea are also monitoring Achraf Hakimi’s situation at Paris Saint-Germain. They lost out to the Ligue 1 club when the attacking right-back left Inter Milan last year. James has three years left on his contract, but is admired by Real Madrid and Manchester City. Chelsea want to open talks about a new deal, which obviously indicates they have no desire to sell this summer — and rightly so. But reigniting their interest in Hakimi does pose the question of whether they are readying themselves just in case James leaves in the future.
Acquiring the Morocco international would allow James to move into the back three, a position that Tuchel has already employed him in, although Kounde would be the one expected to start on the right side of that unit should he join.
If Chelsea do decide to invest in a wing-back, Barcelona’s US international Sergino Dest has been on their radar since the start of the year. The fact the 21-year-old can play on both flanks makes him an attractive proposition.
As The Athletic explained last month, persuading James and England team-mate Mason Mount to stay at Stamford Bridge can’t be taken for granted, despite the obvious affection both have for their boyhood club.
It will be a big surprise now if Conor Gallagher isn’t in the Chelsea line-up next term.
Tuchel was already a fan and was going to involve him this season, only to be convinced the midfielder would develop quicker by playing more regularly on loan at Crystal Palace. Gallagher did so well in a Palace shirt he has become a full England international and he will inject some much-needed energy into Tuchel’s system when he comes back to base.
Fellow returning loanees Ethan Ampadu and Billy Gilmour will get opportunities to show what they can do in pre-season.
The sanctions have appeared to deny Chelsea the chance of buying Aurelien Tchouameni. Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain have taken advantage of the west Londoners’ inability to negotiate to make their interest in the Monaco midfielder known.
Chelsea have a long-standing interest in West Ham’s England midfielder Declan Rice and Tuchel has spoken to staff about his qualities. However, The Athletic has been told West Ham’s stance of asking for £150 million — which would be the third-highest transfer fee ever behind only what PSG paid for Neymar and Kylian Mbappe — has so far successfully scared off all suitors. Manchester United and Manchester City are also in the running but all three clubs have not made any contact yet and are set to wait for the 23-year-old’s contract to run down further before making an attempt.
Rice currently has two years left, plus an option for another 12 months. As reported previously by The Athletic, he has no interest in signing a contract extension. That stance has remained despite the club’s latest salary offer being worth £200,000 a week.
Central midfield is a growing concern for Tuchel, with Jorginho and N’Golo Kante both into their 30s and having only 12 months left on their contracts.
Those two are attracting interest from elsewhere.
Napoli old boy Jorginho could be persuaded to return to Serie A after four years in England, with Juventus a possible destination. Manchester United want Kante for new manager Erik ten Hag, but Tuchel will take some convincing to let him go, especially to direct Premier League rivals — he considers Kante to be as influential as other world-class players such as Kylian Mbappe, Kevin de Bruyne and Mohamed Salah.
A number of the club’s forward players are considering their futures but it would be a surprise if one of the first moves from the American owners is to listen to offers for US international Christian Pulisic. Selling him would be a strange move to make, given their ambitions to promote Chelsea heavily in the States and with a three-match pre-season tour there happening this summer.
Tuchel has suggested he wants to add more firepower to the attack. Doing so will depend on making room in the squad by offloading players such as Timo Werner and/or Hakim Ziyech, who are exploring their options.
Among the players under consideration is Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez, which makes sense given his understanding with Romelu Lukaku from their two recent seasons playing together for the Italian club. However, the 24-year-old Argentina international will be very expensive. A cheaper target is Christopher Nkunku, also 24, of Germany’s RB Leipzig.
Chelsea have good relationships with both clubs, having signed Lukaku and Werner from them respectively.
Armando Broja, who spent the season on loan at Southampton, will be given a chance to impress back with his parent in pre-season. The Albania international is wanted by several clubs, including West Ham, after scoring six goals in 32 league games for Southampton during a campaign that saw him turn 20.
Meanwhile, Ousmane Dembele can’t be completely ruled out.
The 25-year-old France international forward still hasn’t agreed a new contract with Barcelona to replace the one expiring next month and while he’d cost a lot in wages, the fact he could be acquired as a free agent will appeal and is why he was added to the wishlist earlier in the year.
Tuchel has a lot of decisions to make and not all of them are listed here. But it is normal for the manager of a big club to face such challenges in a close-season.
Seeing how he overcomes them with the help of a new regime is going to be fascinating.
(Other contributor: Dominic Fifield)
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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