Chelsea have 'RADICALISED' the transfer market, says ex-boss Villas-Boas

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 11 Oct 2025 16:15 BST
• 4 min read

News

Former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas believes the club have 'radicalised' the transfer market by signing a flurry of young players on extremely long contracts.

Chelsea have spent a whopping €1,765.2 million (£1.535 billion) on new signings since BlueCo became the club’s new owners in 2022, and the majority of that spending has been on young players who can be developed and potentially sold for profit if they don't feature in the starting XI.

At the moment, the Blues have 18 players on their books in the senior squad who have contracts that run until at least 2030. The stockpiling of young talent is a radicalisation of the market, according to Villas-Boas.

"Chelsea has radicalised the way to approach the transfer market," the Portuguese said in an interview with GIVEMESPORT. "It's a totally different vision - getting the best out of young kids, investing via BlueCo in a multi-club ownership and getting the most out of that as well, with players coming in from Strasbourg like Andrey Santos.

"So [they have] a lot of quality, a lot of talent, probably [Emanuel] Emegha in the future. So it's a new way to approach the transfer window, a new way to work out the transfer market and long-term contracts with the pros and cons that that brings. But they were successful. They won the FIFA Club World Cup and Conference League.

"[Enzo] Maresca is a great coach and man with a vision, a process, ideas, so they look to be on the right path."

How Villas-Boas got the better of Chelsea last year

Villas-Boas' views are shared in the industry as Chelsea's approach to the market initially left many club bosses bemused, although detractors will have been quietened by the Blues' success in the Conference League and Club World Cup.

Their approach is certainly a novelty, though. However, Villas-Boas himself has had to do some financial manoeuvring in his capacity as president of Porto, a role which he has occupied since 2024.

To get the club out of debt, Villas-Boas has had to sell several key players, yet he has managed to build a team that is currently three points clear at the top of the Portuguese league.

One of his shrewdest moves came in summer 2024 - at the expense of Chelsea. The Blues had wanted to sign Samu Aghehowa from Atletico Madrid, but the deal collapsed at the final hurdle, allowing Porto to swoop in.

While Chelsea had agreed to pay €42 million for the striker, Villas-Boas managed to nab him for an initial €15m. An additional €10m can be paid by the Portuguese giants to acquire up to 80 per cent of his rights, essentially making this a €25m deal with a 20 per cent sell-on clause for Atleti.

The 21-year-old has since scored 32 goals in 53 appearances for Porto.

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