Why Chelsea needs to rethink their recruitment approach

Todd Bohley officially took over Chelsea Football Club in May 2022, ending Roman Abramovich’s 19-year ownership. Since his takeover, Bohley has spent an eye-watering 1 billion pounds on player transfers. For such high spending in such little time youd think theyd be far more successful as of now and actively competing for the Premier League title. However, due to bad transfer decisions, the Chelsea football club has failed to create a serious contender. We will discuss why all their shortcomings can be attributed to their poor recruitment strategy.

Buying young talent without a clear path

As of recent, Chelsea have become synonymous with overpaying enormously for any young player that shows potential. For example, in just the last 2 years, they have signed Estavao Willian, Geovany Quenda, Jorel Hato, Marc Guiu, along with many others, all of whom were under 20. This led to a ridiculously big team sheet. Why this is a problem is because talent doesn’t create a team, structure does, and due to the sheer size of the team, there is no way any manager could create a well-balanced system that allowed equal chance for everyone to play. Essentially, this hoarding of talent and the unethical practice of trapping them in abnormally long contracts stunts their growth. We have already seen this with recent signings who haven’t performed well because they don’t get enough game time, and it’s nearly impossible to adjust to the team’s system due to the constant influx of players every window and the sacking of numerous managers.

 Similarly, this strategy means that usually when a new manager comes in (which Chelsea have had an overwhelming amount of), signings under previous managers are cast aside or neglected. This leads to tensions within the squad, and the healthy competition for positions becomes toxic. Another problem I have with this strategy is that it prioritises potential over experience and proven ability. As of right now, Chelsea has 5 wingers: Estevao, Pedro Neto, Mykhailo Mudryk, Jamie Gittens, and Alejandro Garnacho. But how many of these are actually proven in big games? None. Although Estevao has shown incredible potential and flashes of pure brilliance, apart from him, the rest are inconsistent and wouldn’t start at any top table clubs. The lack of experience up top is maybe a huge reason they aren’t as successful. Having a player who’s been in those big moments is crucial for top clubs, and Chelsea doesn’t even have 1 player over the age of 30 in their squad.

No Team structure

For the amount Chelsea has spent, you would expect them to have one of the deepest squads in Europe. However, instead, you are left with a disorganised mess where some positions have upwards of 4 players competing to start, while others are filled by academy and second team players when the regular starters are out. Perhaps the most obvious and glaring example of this is Chelsea’s centre-backs this season. With regular starters like Wesley Fofana and  Levi Colwill, who both looked very promising last year, being injured, the team has been forced to play the likes of Badiashile and Acheampong. Whilst I don’t think they are bad players, I do believe that at a club like Chelsea, which is expected to compete for the title and is playing in the Champions League this season, the standard at the back should be exponentially higher. 

But yet again, this all comes back to bad recruitment. If we had constructed a well-balanced squad with multiple backups at each position (which is what I would expect from 1 billion spent in 4 years), this would not be the problem right now, and the club certainly would not be playing academy graduates and unproven teenagers at the back in big games. However, the reality is that the board at Chelsea Football Club does not sign players to fill specific roles and create a cohesive system, a game that does use structured rules for players is Gold Blitz Extreme slot. Instead, they sign for profit buying young players with potential, regardless of if they are too deep at that position already, for the slight chance they may develop into superstars so they can be sold on at a high price, which takes me into my next point. 

The club conducts terrible business, often overpaying for players even when teams charge way more than the players’ estimated market value. Similarly, handing out absolutely egregious contracts, paying players hundreds of thousands a week just to sit on the bench. Perhaps the most notable example of this recently is Raheem Sterling. Once one of the best wingers in England, if not the world, everyone could see he was towards the end of his prime. However, Chelsea handed him a £ 325,000-a-week contract over 5 years. Since then, Sterling has done nothing notable for the club but sit on the bench and has been on loan to Arsenal, where he also did nothing but sit on the bench. As of now, his contract has been terminated. This bad deal sums up their shortcomings completely. 

Overall, it is clear as day that the club’s strategy does not work, and as long as they continue to do business this way, they will not be lifting the Premier League trophy anytime soon.