Free-spending Chelsea have eclipsed the record for the most money spent in a single season, as the total cost of their new signings stood at €629m (£558.78m) at the end of the January transfer window.
That sum dwarfed the previous total set by FC Barcelona, who spent €380m over the 2017/18 campaign.
Chelsea came close to beating Barcelona’s record in the month of January alone, forking out £320m on big name signings to bolster Graham Potter’s struggling squad.
Currently lying ninth in the Premier League table, it is quite the statement of intent from new owner Todd Boehly, less than a year after previous owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club.
Football betting sites have been monitoring how Chelsea’s new additions have impacted the betting markets.
Who have Chelsea signed?
The biggest single transfer made by the Blues this season was that of World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez, who signed for a British record £106.8m from Portuguese side Benfica.
The midfielder had only cost the club from Lisbon €12m from River Plate back in July, but his performances for Argentina en route to lifting the World Cup saw his value soar as some of the world’s richest clubs became interested.
Also joining over the winter was Ukrainian international Mykhailo Mudryk from his native Shakhtar Donetsk. He looked set to join Arsenal before their London rivals hi-jacked the deal with a £62m one of their own, which could rise to almost £90m.
Other significant fees were spent on the arrival of Benoit Badiashile from Monaco for £33m, plus £29m and £26m on Noni Madueke from PSV Eindhoven and Malo Gusto from Lyon.
Not even dipping into the loan market was preventing Chelsea from forking out; Joao Felix’s temporary stint at Stamford Bridge until the end of the season still cost £9.7m. While David Datro Fofana’s and Andrey Santos’ arrivals took the total to £320.
Such were the astronomical levels of Chelsea’s spending, that the Blues single-handedly outspent every club in the other top five leagues – the German Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, Ligue 1 in France and La Liga in Spain – combined in January!
This level of squad investment may have been less of a surprise had it followed a period of frugality, yet they were by no means shy of splashing the cash back in the summer.
Wesley Fofana from Premier League rivals Leicester City was the most expensive arrival, at £69.5m, while Marc Cucurella for £56m and Kalidou Koulibaly for £33m meant over £150m worth of talent had arrived to bolster the defence.
Further forward, £47.5m went Manchester City’s way for Raheem Sterling and more modest sums were spent on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Carney Chukwuemeka, contributing to a total of £228m as the season got into full swing.
Barcelona’s record broken
Half a decade on from setting the record for the most money spent on transfers in a single window, FC Barcelona have seen that record decimated by Chelsea.
For so long renowned as a club who produced its best talent rather than buying it, thanks to their incredibly successful La Masia academy, Barcelona surprised everyone by spending so heavily across the 2017-18 season.
The sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain had allowed Barça to go on a shopping spree, where they came back with a brand new €144m Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund and Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool, just €9m cheaper.
Five other signings, each valued between €40m and €5m, contributed to a €380m total.
These deals, others made around the same time, big wages on players who made relatively little impact at Camp Nou and gambling on the club winning more Champions League titles have all played a role in the current financial crisis Barcelona find themself in.
What impact have Chelsea’s signings made?
Stuck in mid-table, struggling to find form and already on their second manager of the season, the short answer is “minimal”.
Long-term injuries to Wesley Fofana and more established squad players have set the team back, while the likes of Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Koulibaly have been battling to find form.
One goal in the league for the club suggests Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was not the man to fill the one role Chelsea should have spent well on; centre forward.
The January arrivals have not had a proper chance to prove their worth, but Champions League qualification already looks impossible for the Blues.
How has betting been affected?
To win this year’s Premier League title, Chelsea are around the 500/1 mark with most bookmakers, the longest odds they have been at this stage of the season for decades.
However, the new additions have helped their odds of finishing in the top four shorten to 9/1 or 10/1 with most bookies, suggesting their season should not be completely written off.
A more hopeful story could unfold in the Champions League, which resumes this month. Winners as recently as 2021, Chelsea were at 20/1 with some betting sites in January. Now, they can be found at 12/1.
With no European football played since before the World Cup and their league form remaining uninspiring, it can only be the new signings that have seen the odds shorten.
Image sources:
https://pixabay.com/photos/soccer-europe-uefa-champions-league-2699594/
https://pixabay.com/photos/stadium-soccer-london-england-709181/\
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