So much for balancing the budget at Chelsea Football Club. Owner Todd Boehly is certainly throwing fiscal caution to the wind, as the Moises Caicedo signing made official yesterday brings his total transfer spend north of one $1 billion. It only took the American multi-billionaire and leader of the Clearlake Capital consortium three transfer windows to surpass that mark.
You have to wonder about Financial Fair Play concerns at some point, especially when you consider that Chelsea are not done spending.
Chelsea signing Moisés Caicedo means they’ve now spent over $1B in three transfer windows under Todd Boehly ? pic.twitter.com/HFMDJ2CRve
— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 14, 2023
They still hope to bring in yet another midfielder, Romeo Lavia of Southampton. Of course, typically FFP is an issue for clubs that are competing in UEFA Champions League and dominating domestic leagues. You might be wondering about is where all this money comes from. Turns out their is a Saudi connection, and a whole lot to be skeptical about.
All of that is outside the scope of this post, but I strongly recommend you read this post at 90 Min. We may be doing a post on the man who might be the American version of Roman Abramovich at a future time down the road.
Things with Caicedo and Brighton really got ugly this summer, and we covered that here and here already. As we saw in Sunday’s Moises Caicedo Cup (the season opening score draw between Chelsea and Liverpool), both teams need midfield help.
And the team that would/will ultimately sign the 21-year-old Ecuadorian (Liverpool reached agreement with Brighton on a £111 million bid for Caicedo) is poised to potentially take the next step forward. So congrats to Chelsea for getting their man, and retaining the transfer spend record.
For more on what this means from an on the pitch perspective go here and here.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.