“Clueless” Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has admitted he only signed Marc Cucurella because Manchester City wanted him first.
Cucurella moved to the Blues from Brighton in 2022 for around £62 million.
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The Spaniard was one of Chelsea’s first signings of the BlueCo era after they bought the club from Roman Abramovich earlier this year.
Because BlueCo had not yet properly established its football departments at this point, this meant that Boehly, a key member of the consortium, had to moonlight as the Blues’ interim sporting director.
Speaking at the iConnections conference, Boehly admitted it was a stressful time for everyone involved as he tried to navigate the treacherous transfer market as a complete newbie.
Why Boehly signed Cucurella in 2022
“It’s hard to get the right elements the first time,” Boehly said.
“So you’re going to make mistakes and after we took over under the circumstances that we did, basically the entire management team left.
“I was stuck as interim sports director over the summer and had no idea what made a good football player.
“But I knew with Marc Cucurella that if Man City wanted him, I wanted him. That way it was pretty easy.”
Of the players that LA Dodgers co-owner Boehly signed for Chelsea in the 2022 summer window, only Cucurella would be considered a home run signing.
How many players Boehly signed are still at Chelsea?
The Spanish defender is also one of only three players who moved to and stayed with the Blues during this time, alongside Wesley Fofana and goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina.
Raheem Sterling was one of the top signings, arriving from Manchester City for around £48 million.
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Who did Todd Boehly sign as Chelsea’s interim sporting director?
Raheem Sterling from Manchester City (£48m)
Leicester City’s Wesley Fofana (£70m)
Marc Cucurella from Brighton (£62m)
Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli (£37m)
Carney Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa (£15m)
Cesare Casadei from Inter Milan (£13m)
Chicago Fire’s Gabriel Slonina (£8m)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona (£10.5m)
Denis Zakaria from Juventus (£2.6m)
Total expenditure (per transfer market): £266.1m
However, the striker only scored 19 goals in 81 appearances in all competitions and his contract was terminated in January, allowing him to move to Dutch club Feyenoord.
Boehly is no longer heavily involved in transfers, with Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart sharing duties as Chelsea’s co-sporting directors.
Instead, the American serves as the Blues’ chairman while Behdad Eghbali serves as the more public face among the owners, although relations between the two are not perfect.
Despite the money Boehly and Co. have poured into the club, Chelsea haven’t always found gold on the pitch.
The Blues finished 12th in their first year at the helm under the new owners and finished sixth in the 2023-24 season.
How much did Chelsea spend under Boehly?
Chelsea then had their best season to date last season when they finished fourth in the Premier League, won two trophies and won the Conference League as well as the lucrative Club World Cup.
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Boehly believed that the silver price was merely a reward for Chelsea’s transfer strategy, which, according to Transfermarkt, involved spending close to £1.5 billion.
“The reality is you have a plan and you stick to it,” Boehly said.
“When you have new information, you pivot and adapt. You’re not ashamed to adapt.
“But you can’t turn around. You have to build an infrastructure and a foundation with which you can continue to work.”