Chelsea have started off the year in complete disarray, and fans are furious with the co-owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
With fans losing faith in the Chelsea project, the owners decided to start the year by sacking yet another manager, Enzo Maresca, after an inconsistent 18 months, which also included him helping Chelsea win the FIFA Club World Cup 6 months ago.
According to speculation, Maresca and Eghbali fell out over several reasons, including disagreement over control, which led to the Italian’s sacking. This is the third manager sacked by Eghbali during the Clearlake era.
Strangely, Maresca did not have full autonomy over squad decisions, player management, tactics, and transfers. There was constant friction between the two as Maresca wanted more control while Eghbali wanted to maintain a tight oversight of the day-to-day operations of the first team.
Additionally, Eghbali kept pushing for younger players with high upside, whereas Maresca wanted immediate reinforcements and players capable of delivering now.
The talented Strasbourg FC (Chelsea’s sister club, which is also co-owned by Todd Boehly) manager. Liam Rosenior has taken over at Chelsea, signing a contract until 2032. But with the way Chelsea has been moving since 2022, it is unlikely that the latest managerial reign will be any different from what we’ve seen in the past.
Despite spending over 2 billion in transfers and making all the moves on paper that would save them money, like cutting off the middlemen and unearthing talents themselves, Chelsea has still ended up with an extremely dire squad with zero matchwinners.
Chelsea owners keep trying to copy Brighton but ultimately fail to be anywhere near as efficient as the Seagulls.
If there is one club in the Premier League that every fan wishes their club could emulate, then that club is definitely Brighton and Hove Albion.
Brighton, one of the best-run clubs in the Premier League, got their promotion in 2017, and since it joined the top flight, it has enjoyed great success season after season both on and off the field.
The “Moneyball” transfer strategy of Brighton helps them unearth gems season after season, while their choice of young, up-and-coming managers always keeps the team playing a fast-paced style of football.
Since Chelsea was bought by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali in 2022, they have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Brighton, hoping to emulate Brighton’s success, especially in the transfer market.
From hiring players to hiring Brighton’s former manager to their talent scout to their backroom staff, every year Chelsea takes a piece away from Brighton, but to no avail.
It all started with Marc Cucurella when Chelsea took the talented Spanish full-back for a massive £63m with add-ons in August 2022.
In September 2022, Chelsea hired Brighton’s manager Graham Potter by paying off his €25m compensation fee and appointing him as Thomas Tuchel’s successor. Moreover, Chelsea also brought in Potter’s entire coaching staff – Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg, Bruno Saltor, Ben Roberts, and Kyle Macauley.
A few months later, Chelsea poached Brighton’s Head of Recruitment, Paul Winstanley, making him Chelsea’s Sporting Director in December 2022.
2023 saw multiple high-profile transfers from Brighton to Chelsea, as the London club paid £115m in a successful last-gasp hijack against Liverpool’s attempts to sign the in-demand defensive midfielder, Moises Caicedo. The same window, Chelsea also shelled out £25m for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, one of the best goalkeepers at the time.
In February 2024, Sam Jewell became the latest staff member to switch from Brighton to Chelsea. Jewell was tasked with heading up Chelsea’s global scouting network and taking charge of player negotiations.
Interestingly, Jewell had actually replaced Paul Winstanley as Brighton’s Head of Recruitment, but ultimately, both of them ended up at Chelsea.
Chelsea have also signed a couple of youth players from Brighton’s academy, namely forward Shumaira Mheuka and defender Zak Sturge.
Another player that Chelsea took from Brighton, albeit unofficially, was Levi Colwill. Despite being from Chelsea’s academy, the young defender wasn’t in Chelsea’s plans, so he was sent on loan to Brighton for the 2022-23 season. Colwill was massively impressive at Brighton as the focal point of Roberto De Zerbi’s “playing out from the back” system, even becoming one of the best young players in the league. Although Brighton heavily pushed for a £30m deal, with the defender having his heart set on a permanent transfer but Chelsea stopped his sale to the AMEX by rejecting the bid and insisting he isn’t for sale. Colwill was then integrated into the first team and handed a long-term contract.
In their latest attempt to emulate Brighton’s success, Chelsea decided to splurge £60m for Joao Pedro, but the striker has struggled to reach the same heights he reached at his former club.
The same window also saw Chelsea signing Argentinian Facundo Buonanotte on loan from Brighton for the 2025-26 season. Similar to Pedro, the former Brighton man hasn’t performed to his best, only making 7 appearances so far in the season, with just 1 appearance in the league.
Interestingly, Chelsea’s new manager also has a Brighton connection as he used to play for the Seagulls between 2015 and 2018 as a fullback. He made 44 league appearances and was part of the squad that promoted Brighton to the top flight of English football.
Clearlake’s obsession with Brighton does not stop there, as Boehly and co have also hired numerous ex-Brighton figures at Strasbourg FC.
Among them is the high-profile technical director David Weir, who served as Brighton’s technical director for 7 years before switching from the AMEX to Stade de la Meinau.
Strasbourg has also hired a couple of ex-Brighton players, including Valentin Barco and Julio Enciso, who joined at the start of this season. While Barco has impressed, Enciso has failed to recapture the form that made him one of the best young players in the Premier League a couple of seasons ago.
Despite all these attempts, both Strasbourg and Chelsea remain badly run clubs, and fans are disgusted with the ownership, especially Behdad Eghbali. While Strasbourg has shown more promise than Chelsea, fans expect some aspects to change under the new Blues manager.
If all the papers are signed on time, Rosenior could see his debut in the dugout against local rivals Fulham in the mid-week fixture; otherwise, he will manage his first game against Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup 3rd round at the weekend.
