Chelsea's descent into hell under Todd Boehly

Six consecutive defeats, two goals scored in the last eight Premier League games… Todd Boehly's Chelsea are at their worst. After 36 the Blues are in 12th place in the championship, a ranking unworthy of the club's status.

Winner of the Champions League in 2021, Chelsea is having a nightmarish season despite the club being bought out by American Todd Boehly for $5.2 billion. He succeeded Roman Abramovich, who owned the club for 19 years.

How did the Blues go from title contender to Premier League's worst attack? Here is the explanation of Chelsea's descent into hell, from Todd Boehly's takeover to Frank Lampard's record losing streak.

The sale of the Chelsea club is closely linked to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Roman Abramovich, the club's Russian owner, put the club up for sale in February 2022, just hours before facing UK sanctions over the Russia-Ukraine situation.

A few months after this announcement, it was finally a group led by American Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, which took over the club for 4.68 billion pounds, or 5.2 billion euros. The new owner made his intentions obvious, to spend and spend heavily.

Upon his arrival, Todd Boehly wanted to strike a blow by recruiting Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. While the idea sounded appealing on paper, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel strongly opposed it, saying it would "destroy the mindset of the dressing room".

The management of the Cristiano Ronaldo situation created the first tensions between the German technician and the new owner. On September 7, 2022, the day after a 1-0 Champions League defeat against Dinamo Zagreb, the club announced that it was parting ways with Thomas Tuchel, who won the Champions League in 2021.

While his recent results weren't great, they weren't disastrous either with three wins from six Premier League games. Chelsea fans couldn't understand Boehly's decision and his impatience with Thomas Tuchel, who had an exceptional season in 2021 and qualified for the Champions League in 2022.

The day after the dismissal of Thomas Tuchel, the club announced the appointment of Graham Potter as the German's replacement. Potter had worked wonders at Brighton, but the choice still raised questions: does he have the experience for such a club and, above all, has he proven himself enough at high level, having never won a major trophy?

As soon as he arrived, Graham Potter established his attacking style of play and the results looked promising. In his first nine games, the English technician went undefeated (seven wins and two draws). The fans are convinced and Chelsea manages to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

However, after a bright start, the sky started to darken in West London. Between November 6 and January 12, the Blues did not win a game with seven defeats in nine games, including a 4-0 loss in the FA Cup against Manchester City. 

As we know, Todd Boehly wanted to make a big splash on the transfer market. During the winter transfer window, he brings in a dozen new players, all at great expense. 

Chelsea's plan is simple, to try and recruit all young players with high potential, whatever the price. After his victory at the World Cup, the revelation Enzo Fernandez joins the West London club for the small price of… 121 million euros. The talented but inexperienced Ukrainian Mykhaylo Mudryk will also sign for… 70 million euros excluding bonuses! Astronomical sums.

Mykhaylo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez, Nkunku (who will arrive this summer), Malo Gusto, Noni Madueke, Benoît Badiashile, Joao Felix (on loan), Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana. Here are all the club's recruits in one transfer window, for a total of more than 380 million euros... ! This brings Chelsea's spending to over 600 million euros since Boehly's arrival.

After this turbulent winter transfer window, Graham Potter's mission is to create a team and cohesion between the new players in the squad and the “old ones”. Unfortunately, this plan didn't work. Despite their undeniable talent, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Joao Félix struggle to stand out.

Chelsea's attack worries and recruitment is questioned. Joao Félix, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Aubameyang, Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic… Despite the large number of attackers, none of them are pure goalscorers.

The profiles of the players, in particular those of Joao Félix and Kai Havertz, are too similar and the latter doesn't even get on the pitch. The results are alarming: Chelsea struggle to score a single goal and, more seriously than that, lose the trust of the fans.

As the head of this team, Graham Potter is singled out as a key reason for Chelsea's failure. The technician cannot find the solutions and seems totally helpless. His style of play, reputed to be attacking, did not work at all and, on April 3, Todd Boehly made the decision to change coach once again.

This choice, which comes six months after the dismissal of Tuchel, once again calls into question the decision-making of the owner. Especially since these dismissals have a cost: in total, the two will have cost Chelsea more than 50 million euros. 15 million for the dismissal of Tuchel, 13.5 million to recruit Potter and 13.5 million to part with him.

This calamitous management also puts the club in doubt with regard to financial fair play. With a negative balance of several hundred million euros, other clubs do not understand how the Blues can avoid sanctions from FIFA and UEFA.

To replace Graham Potter, the management decides to choose club legend, Frank Lampard, who had already coached the Blues between 2019 and 2021 with very limited success.

Frank Lampard broke a record at Chelsea, with his first six games all being defeats. With two goals scored in six games and ten conceded, Chelsea became one of the worst teams in England for a short period.

For Frank Lampard, the record is even worse. After losing 4 games in a row before being fired as Everton manager, Lampard loses 10 games in a row. According to the British media, Mauricio Pochettino is in lined up to replace Frank Lampard.

After this catastrophic season, what is the future of Chelsea? After having recruited for more than 680 million euros this year, the club can boast of having one of the best squads in the world in terms of quantity and young talents.

Unfortunately for the club, it will not play in the European Cup next year and the project is still unclear. With three different coaches in less than seven months and mixed results, Chelsea are worried and their instability is symptomatic of Todd Boehly.

With all these young talents, Chelsea remains one of the most interesting teams in the football landscape. Will Todd Boehly's bets pay off? If not, what will be the fate of Chelsea, the biggest spending club in history? See you in a year to find out!