Chelsea's 'radicalisation' of the transfer market

Martin Macdonald

• 11 Oct 2025 04:37 CDT
• 7 min read

News

Former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas believes the club has '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 process ideas, so they look to be on the right path."

The €1bn dream Chelsea could have had

Chelsea’s starting XI versus Brentford recently certainly didn’t reflect a team that cost close to €2 billion and this could hinder the Blues in their bid to win this year’s Premier League title.

Of course, the club’s investment in new signings has been supplemented by the €921.3m ($1.085bn) that Chelsea have earned through player sales during the BlueCo era. Their net spend, as a result, currently stands at €843.9m ($992m). So, we will be using that figure to build the ‘dream team’ Chelsea could’ve signed over the past three years.

Furthermore, we will only be using players who have moved clubs since 2022, and the transfer fees they went for, to create an accurate and realistic first-team squad.

Goalkeepers

Robert Sanchez has shown flashes of quality since joining Chelsea, but he is far too error-prone for a team hoping to challenge for the Premier League title and it’s clear that an upgrade is needed.

Gianluigi Donnarumma joined Manchester City for just €30m ($35m) this summer and he would be the perfect candidate to bolster Chelsea’s goalkeeper roster. Plus, he’s still only 26 years old.

In order to fill the home-grown Premier League quota and avoid spending an abundance of money on back-up shot-stoppers, Wojciech Szczesny and Marcus Bettinelli form the rest of the goalkeeper’s union in Chelsea’s dream team.

The former joined Barcelona on a free transfer in 2024, while the latter was picked up by Chelsea on a Bosman deal before his summer move to Man City.

Defenders

Chelsea’s backline has been identified as another area of weakness and their depth at centre-back is a key issue with the squad currently available to Enzo Maresca.

Levi Colwill, when fit, is a quality option, while Trevoh Chalobah is another solid defender, but more quality could certainly have been added.

Murillo and Dean Huijsen joined Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth for €12m ($14.1m) and €19.6m ($23m) respectively, and although Cristian Romero divides opinion, he is a quality centre-back and he possesses the leadership that Chelsea are sorely missing at the back.

At right-back, Reece James and Josh Acheapong are two excellent, and home-grown, options and keeping the former fit remains a priority for Chelsea. Adding Pedro Porro into the mix, instead of Malo Gusto, would provide the Blues with an extra attacking spark.

On the opposite flank, Marc Cucurella was an immense flop during his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge, but he has now established himself as a key player under Maresca. While his fee remains high for a full-back, he has retained his place. Alejandro Grimaldo has been included as his back-up.

Midfielders

Chelsea’s midfield is certainly its biggest strength at the moment. As a result, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos and, of course, Cole Palmer keep their place in the team.

Liverpool duo Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szobszlai were picked up by the Reds for a combined €110m ($129m), and would provide Chelsea with much-needed additional quality.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa signed Morgan Rogers for less than €10m ($11.76m) and he would be the perfect competitor for his close friend Palmer.

Forwards

Finally, onto the forwards and there is major change here. Chelsea’s current attack is extremely underwhelming considering their vast investment and better signings could certainly have been made.

Kylian Mbappe on a Bosman deal could’ve been included here, but he’s been excluded simply because he was only ever going to leave PSG to join Real Madrid. Meanwhile, Man City had already finalised a deal to sign Erling Haaland before BlueCo took over at Chelsea.

However, Viktor Gyokeres joined Sporting CP for just €24m ($28m) in 2023, while Khvicha Kvarastkhelia was picked up by Napoli for just €13.3m ($15.6m) one year earlier.

Long-term Chelsea target Michael Olise has unsurprisingly established himself as a world-class player at Bayern Munich and would slot perfectly into the right-wing position at Stamford Bridge.

Estevao Willian and Joao Pedro have enjoyed a stellar start to life at Chelsea and they have therefore retained their places in the squad, while Cody Gakpo makes it three Liverpool signings to provide additional depth.

Chelsea ‘Dream Team’ XI

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma

RB: Reece James

CB: Cristian Romero

CB: Levi Colwill

LB: Marc Cucurella

CM: Moises Caicedo

CM: Ryan Gravenberch

RW: Michael Olise

CAM: Cole Palmer

LW: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

ST: Viktor Gyokeres

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Marcus Bettinelli, Pedro Porro, Josh Acheampong, Dean Huijsen, Trevoh Chalobah, Murillo, Alejandro Grimaldo, Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos, Dominik Szoboszlai, Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro, Estevao Willian, Cody Gakpo.

Total Spend: €833.6m ($980.13m)

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