Things must have been very different when the Chelsea players arrived at the Cobham Training Centre for the first day of pre-season training under Mauricio Pochettino. Not only was it the start of yet another managerial tenure, but several key players and influential figures at the club would have cleared their possessions from their respective lockers.
Club captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s contract was allowed to run out after serving as a Chelsea player for over a decade, while Mason Mount and Kai Havertz — who combined to score the winning goal in the Blues’ 2021 Champions League final success over Manchester City — were sold to Premier League rivals Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.
Mateo Kovacic, another high-profile member of Chelsea’s first-team squad, was sold to Man City and Edouard Mendy, N’Golo Kante and Kalidou Koulibaly departed for the rising Saudi Pro League. Not to mention Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both being shipped off to AC Milan, albeit rarely playing more than bit-part roles in a blue shirt during their time at Stamford Bridge.
With Chelsea’s massive outlay on players exceeding £500 million since American Todd Boehly bought the club from fan favourite Roman Abramovich last year due to sanctions imposed on the Russian by the British government thanks to his links with Vladimir Putin, it was inevitable that some big names were going to have to depart to balance the books in west London.
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom, with last season’s Bundesliga top scorer Christopher Nkunku arriving from Leipzig for £52m and the little-known Nicolas Jackson being signed from Villarreal for just over £30m after the 22-year-old forward scored 12 times and assisted four in 26 La Liga appearances for the Yellow Submarine in the 2022-23 campaign.
But the club’s supporters and even some of Chelsea’s players might still be feeling a bit demotivated ahead of the new season after this summer’s early business and after enduring what was one of their worst seasons in recent history under Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and interim boss Frank Lampard last term, it’s not looking like the Blues are going to be much of a danger again in 2023-24.
Chelsea are obviously not going to challenge Manchester City or Arsenal for the Premier League trophy next season, but they are not even favoured for a top-four finish with those looking for a football bet — coming in behind Man City, Liverpool, the Gunners, Man United and Newcastle United in the market.
Then there is the matter of the domestic cups. Just two years ago, Tuchel guided Chelsea to both the FA Cup and League Cup finals in the same season — losing both to Liverpool on penalties after goalless draws at Wembley. But the Stamford Bridge outfit are fancied at 10/1 in the betting markets for both pieces of silverware in the upcoming campaign.
Since their stark rise to prominence in the early 2000s, Blues fans have become accustomed to lifting silverware and have endured just a handful of trophyless seasons. But with the likes of Man United and Arsenal on the up, Man City as dangerous as ever, Liverpool likely returning to form next season and the Saudi-backed Newcastle a growing concern, all while Chelsea appear to be going backwards, silverware might be hard to come by.
Never mind trophies, if those aforementioned sides continue to get stronger as things would currently suggest, Chelsea could find themselves excluded from the Champions League betting for a number of seasons. It’s probable that Pochettino is going to be given a transfer war chest when the club’s executives are done flogging the ‘deadwood’, but it’s unlikely the former Tottenham Hotspur boss is going to enjoy instant success back in London.
