Chelsea were held to a draw by Fulham in the early match of round 22 of the Premier League, despite all the "bombards" on the field. Enzo Fernandez debuted as the most expensive player in the Premier League, while his £88 million signing Mykhailo Mudryk only played for the first 45 minutes.
In the January transfer window alone, Chelsea spent £323m - more than the total spending of clubs in Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 - on loan. However, what did they gain from sweeping the talents in Europe?
Fernandez, the 2022 World Cup winner, seems to be a reasonable investment for Chelsea. There is no sign that the 22-year-old player is under pressure.
However, it should be remembered that since joining Benfica last summer, Fernandez has only played 30 matches in Europe. The question is, does the Argentine play worth Chelsea's risk of such a large sum of money?
Mudryk, who made an impressive debut against Liverpool, had a disappointing start against Fulham and was substituted after the first half. Before that, Chelsea accepted the risk of paying a high price to Arsenal to welcome the Ukrainian rookie to Stamford Bridge.
Benoit Badiashile (33.7 million pounds) and David Datro Fofana (10 million pounds) also appeared against Fulham. Badiashile showed confidence when playing alongside Thiago Silva, while Fofana was a bit unlucky to get his first goal.
In short, Chelsea's squad spending nearly 500 million Euros could not win. Chelsea are currently Ninth in the Premier League, nine points behind fourth-placed Manchester United and have played one more game.
Even the new players in the summer transfer window last year have not made much contributions. Raheem Sterling (47 million pounds) and Marc Cucurella (60 million pounds) have yet to show their commensurability with the amount Chelsea spent. Meanwhile, £75 million defender Wesley Fofana has only played 4 matches due to injury.
Less than a year after taking ownership of Chelsea, Todd Boehly has spent nearly a quarter of the money Roman Abramovich spent during his 19 years at Stamford Bridge.
In response to Chelsea's huge spending, it is reported that FIFA and UEFA are planning to implement new regulations to prevent clubs from "circumventing the law" with unusually long contracts.
Enzo Fernandez signed an 8-and-a-half-year contract, so the depreciation will help the Argentine player be valued at 12.5 million pounds/season. By selling Jorginho to Arsenal for £12 million, Chelsea have all but erased Fernandez's value in this year's financial statement.
Chelsea did not violate any rules, only exploiting "olations" in UEFA and FIFA's financial regulations. However, Premier League teams are reacting to the Blues.
"I don't understand this part of business, like what you can do and what you can't do. They are all really good players, so from that perspective, congratulations," Jurgen Klopp shared.
Meanwhile, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has a more severe attitude: "What Chelsea decide to do is not my business. There are regulations and rules. I don't forget, 8 or 9 teams sent letters to the Premier League asking for us to be banned in 2020, when Man City were found to have violated the provisions of the Financial Fair Play Law".
Man City and Chelsea under Abramovich both spent big and got the same result. However, all have plans and are clearly oriented. For Chelsea now, they seem to be reluctant to attract young talents. And if they miss the Champions League next season, how will Chelsea manage?
