It’s a brand new era in West London.
Gone is the Russian billionaire who changed the landscape of English football forever and brought about a club’s most successful ever period.
When Roman Abramovich arrived in 2003, Chelsea had one league championship to its name with a splattering of cup success for good measure.
What has followed in the 19 years since includes a tally of trophies galore, including five Premier League titles and two European Cups.
The key question now is, can the oligarch‘s successor be as generous with his wealth and lead the club to more notable triumphs?
Certainly, judging by recent weeks, manager Thomas Tuchel knows there is work to be done. Not that 2021-22 can be viewed as a failure.
Yes, it was hugely disappointing to reach both domestic cup finals and lose both in the same manner to the same opponents with very little between the teams.
Yet those games, along with plenty of Premier League 2022 highlights, showed that Chelsea are hardly a million miles away from the established top two and there is no doubt in my mind that the news Abramovich was going to sell – announced just days before the first of those finals – unsettled the entire club.
That was reflected in both performances on the pitch as well as uncertainty off it. For a spell, the club was even unable to sell match tickets.
Let’s not forget until early December they looked like they would muster a title challenge and, while their title tilt may not have lasted much beyond Christmas, they had been crowned world champions just a few weeks earlier for the first time – hardly a sign of a club or team in decline.
There is change needed now though, not least in central defence where Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen have headed to Spain, club captain Cesar Azpilicueta could yet follow and Thiago Silva, although outstanding, is 37.
Reportedly, the club has an interest in Matthijs de Ligt with Juventus aiming to extend the centre-back’s contract (no agreement has yet been reached) and players such as Sevilla’s Jules Koundé and Manchester City’s Nathan Aké also linked.
Of course, the interesting dynamic is who will head the negotiations.
Todd Boehly has taken over from Bruce Buck as chairman and Marina Granovskaia’s departure has been confirmed – an exit which underlines the change at Stamford Bridge since Abramovich sold the club to a consortium fronted by Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
Russian-Canadian executive Granovskaia had effectively run the club on Abramovich’s behalf in recent years and was responsible for looking after transfers and player contracts.
With Petr Cech – who spent 11 years as a player at Stamford Bridge, winning 13 trophies, including four Premier League titles and the Champions League – also leaving his role as technical and performance advisor it really is all change in many areas.
The long-term plan is to revamp the club’s recruitment structure with the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender Maxwell the latest name to come up in conversations about the sporting director role.
However, the amount of change that has taken place since the consortium completed its takeover last month has understandably led to a scattergun feel to Chelsea’s transfer plans.
The new board certainly intends to give Tuchel significant funds for signings and there has been a desire to resolve the Romelu Lukaku situation as swiftly as possible.
The Belgian, who is taking a large paycut to re-join Inter Milan, surprisingly struggled after returning to the west Londoners last summer and another challenge now will be for Chelsea to strengthen their attack, with Everton forward Richarlison and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling said to be prominent targets.
Chelsea have also held talks with the other club which operates out of the San Siro in AC Milan over selling Hakim Ziyech.
Ziyech would be open to joining the Serie A champions but an arrangement must be found regarding his salary, which is larger than Milan would ordinarily want to pay. Milan are discussing the matter internally and with the 29-year-old’s agents.
Ziyech was in and out of Tuchel’s team last season, starting 19 of Chelsea’s 48 games in the Premier League and Champions League. He joined from Ajax for an initial £34-M in the summer of 2020 on a five-year contract.
As it stands, Chelsea are joint third favourtes for next season’s title with the SBOTOP Premier League 2022 betting odds.
But it is all change at the Bridge and the new owners have much to do and a hard act to follow – time will tell.
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