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Chelsea are no strangers to drama over the past few years, but even by their standards the summer of 2024 has been somewhat busier than they might ideally have liked.
The Blues remain a work in progress under the ownership of Todd Boehly, who took over the club in summer 2022 and have fallen away from their regular qualification for the Champions League amid sweeping changes to their squad and backroom staff, including several different managers.
That trend has continued for Chelsea over the past few months…here’s how it’s all gone down as we approach the new 2024/25 season.
VIDEO How Enzo Maresca Will Set Up At Chelsea
Mauricio Pochettino departs just after getting Chelsea going
Chelsea started their summer with the news that Mauricio Pochettino had left the club by ‘mutual consent’ following meetings with sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley and the club ownership.
The timing seemed peculiar, given that Chelsea had been mired in mid-table for going on two whole seasons under Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, caretaker boss Frank Lampard and then Pochettino – only for the Argentine to oversee a dramatic improvement in form in the second half of the season.
Chelsea had been comfortably the fourth-best team in the league from Christmas onwards and finished the season particularly strongly, rising from 11th with eight games to go to finishing sixth, just five points outside the Champions League places.
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As Sky Sports Kaveh Solhekol explained: “They decided after talks to sleep on it. But ultimately both sides felt that going forward they couldn’t make it work, they were on different paths.
“Pochettino revealed he had dinner with Todd Boehly recently and that had gone well, but behind the scenes there has been some doubt. Chelsea are such a big club, politically there is a lot going on.”
Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca was appointed as Pochettino’s replacement, hot on the heels of leading them to the Championship title.
Horse trading ahead of ‘unofficial transfer deadline’
The end of the financial year has become just as important to some Premier League clubs now as the actual transfer deadline, with the last few days of June their final opportunity to prop up their position under Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) ahead of the new campaign.
Breaching PSR can lead to penalties up to and including points deductions, which naturally everyone is keen to avoid. This year that has led to several clubs doing a bit of creative accounting to make sure they stay on the right side of the regulations – Chelsea included.
It’s not a coincidence, for example, that Chelsea exchanged eight-figure deals with Aston Villa on June 28 and 29, with Ian Maatsen heading to Villa Park for a reported £37.5m and Omari Kellyman going back the other way for a reported £19m. Omari Hutchinson’s £20m move to Ipswich Town was meanwhile announced at 10:16pm on June 30.
And with July 1 marking the start of a new financial year, and a fresher slate, they weren’t done there: Lewis Hall’s sale to Newcastle United for £28m was confirmed that morning, with Marc Guiu’s arrival from Barcelona coming later in the day and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s big-money move from Leicester confirmed the next day.
Argentina racism prompts Enzo Fernandez backlash
After Argentina’s Copa America triumph last month, Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez filmed himself joining in with the rest of the squad on the team bus singing a racist and anti-trans chant and posted it to social media.
That prompted clubmate Wesley Fofana to respond: “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism”.
Fernandez faced a disciplinary procedure from the club upon his return to London, meeting with Maresca and several teammates to apologise before making a voluntary donation to an anti-discrimination charity (matched by Chelsea). Fofana has accepted the apology.
There is still the potential for disciplinary action from FIFA and, in turn, the FA against the players involved.
High-profile sales lead to Enzo Maresca complaints
Maatsen, Hall and Hutchinson are not the only two academy graduates Chelsea have looked to move on this summer: Conor Gallagher has agreed terms on a £33m switch to Atletico Madrid, for starters.
Trevoh Chalobah looks to have no future at the club after being left out of their pre-season trip to America, while Armando Broja is expected to join him out the door if Chelsea get their way.
New gaffer Maresca has expressed his dismay that Chelsea have ended up in this position, hitting out at the PSR accounting loopholes rather than, you know, the club that has intentionally set about exploiting them.
Maresca whined: “This is not Chelsea’s problem, these are the rules. All the clubs at this moment are compelled to sell players from the academy because of the rules. It’s all of the Premier League clubs’ problems.
“It’s not only us, it’s all the Premier League clubs. It’s a shame because in Italy, we have [Francesco] Totti with Roma, 20 years with the same club – one club man. We love that in football, the fans want to see that. But with the rules now it is different than the past.”
Yes, Enzo, it’s definitely the fault of those entirely transparent Premier League rules, and nothing whatsoever to do with Chelsea’s extremely short-termist approach to their finances over the past couple of years putting them in this position in the first place.
Pre-season difficulties on the pitch
A minor one, because pre-season friendlies are effectively public training sessions to which we attach no particular importance. Sides have had excellent seasons after poor summer results, and vice-versa.
Nonetheless, we live in an age when the utmost importance is attributed to everything at all times, particularly among the Very Online sections of clubs’ fanbases – and Chelsea’s summer results have not made for pretty reading.
Newly-promoted third tier side Wrexham held Chelsea to a 2-2 draw, Celtic battered them 4-1, and Manchester City ran out 4-2 winners at the weekend, before European champions Real Madrid claimed a 2-1 win over Chelsea on Tuesday evening.
That gives Chelsea just one friendly win to their name this summer – a 3-0 victory over Club America.
That has already led Maresca to defend his patient style playing out from the back, saying Chelsea ‘are going to concede goals’ before adding: “Hopefully, not too many. It is one of the risks that you have trying to build from behind.”
William Gallas has been unimpressed…
Plug pulled on marquee signing?
Again, a point built more around the optics among some fans more than a reflection of actual reality – but some have not responded well to reports that Chelsea have cooled their interest in Napoli hotshot Victor Osimhen.
Osimhen’s agent, Roberto Calenda, had cast doubt on earlier reports that a deal taking the striker to Chelsea had been all but agreed. He wrote on X: “I’ve read about unfounded imaginary trades involving Victor, shipped around like a package ready for delivery. But remember that this “package” is the top scorer of the third scudetto in Naples’ history. Respect and no more fake news!”
Chelsea are believed to be in the market for a centre-forward this summer, though, with 18-year-old Guiu by no means a sure thing after just seven senior competitive appearances to date.
Atletico’s Samu Omorodion is the latest player to be linked, with Julian Alvarez’s proposed pricey move from Manchester City to the Estadio Metropolitano opening to door to a potential sale of the 20 year old, who scored eight times in 35 outings on loan to Alaves last season.
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