Stefan Borson, a former financial adviser for Manchester City, says that Chelsea may not have as much money as people think. The Blues will have a lot of trouble in future transfer windows because of UEFA rules and the fact that they might lose a lot of money on some big-name players.
Since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital group took over the club in May 2022, they have become known for spending money. Borson has, however, warned that Chelsea’s financial situation is more complicated than it seems. The club are still being watched by UEFA and have to follow strict rules about how much money they can spend, which will get even stricter next season.
Borson told Football Insider:
“I think Chelsea are probably quite restrained. There might be something to spend, but they’ve got to be mindful that they are in a UEFA settlement period.”
He continued:
“They do have to watch the situation with squad cost control because, of course, when squad cost ratios comes in next season, the hotel and the women’s sales, they go out the window in terms of being relevant. They have sold so many young player assets that you don’t know how many they’ve got left where they can make a profit.”
Borson also talked about specific worries he had about some of Chelsea’s players. The financial expert used Raheem Sterling and Mykhaylo Mudryk as examples of assets that could lead to big write-downs.
“They’ve got some hidden losses on some of their players. Raheem Sterling is still, for example, a player that they’re going to have to crystallise a loss on if they were to sell him or pay him off, impair the asset. They’ve also got the issue with Mudryk, which is a big impairment potentially.”
Sterling moved from Manchester City to Chelsea in 2022, but he didn’t play much at Stamford Bridge and spent the 2024–25 season on loan at Arsenal. Mudryk’s future is still unclear after the FA suspended him temporarily in December 2024 for testing positive for a banned substance.
Chelsea Transfer Activity Under Todd Boehly Ownership
Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over Chelsea in May 2022, the club have signed more than 35 players, making them one of the most active clubs in the transfer market during that time. The Blues have spent well over £1 billion on new players in a number of windows during the spending spree.
One of the biggest arrivals is Enzo Fernandez, who came from Benfica in January 2023 for a British-record fee of around £107 million. Moises Caicedo came from Brighton for about £115 million in August 2023. Wesley Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Marc Cucurella also came for big fees.
The club have also signed younger players like Cole Palmer from Manchester City, who has become one of the best players in the Premier League, as well as Nicolas Jackson, Romeo Lavia, and Pedro Neto. Many new players have been given long contracts as a way to spread out the costs of amortization over a longer period of time.
