Updated list of Chelsea transfers under Todd Boehly: How much money new owners spent on new players since taking over club

Ben Miller

Updated list of Chelsea transfers under Todd Boehly: How much money new owners spent on new players since taking over club image

Keeping pace with Chelsea's volume of signings and lavish outlay has been a dizzying business since American Todd Boehly's takeover of the club was confirmed on May 31, 2022.

Former owner Roman Abramovich transformed Chelsea into one of European football's financial heavyweights when the Russian bought them in 2003, and their spending has been supercharged under the leadership of new billionaire owner Boehly and his investment group.

Chelsea narrowly eclipsed the routine highest spenders, Manchester United, in the 2022 summer transfer market, with their total spree in that period just over £251 million ($305m), and net investment of almost £206m ($250m), both representing the highest figures in the Premier League.

Here's how much Boehly has spent in total, who is in charge of their transfers and more — starting with a full list of signings since his arrival.

MORE: Who is Todd Boehly and what happened to Roman Abramovich?

Chelsea transfers in the Todd Boehly era

After a relative drought during the first months of Boehly's ownership, Chelsea made nine signings in under two months before the 2022 summer transfer window closed, and added eight more in the winter window, to take their season total to 18 players at the end of January.

Alongside their summer Premier League record, the Blues also set a new winter transfer window spending record, of £291.65m/$356.95m.

The 2023 summer window has featured continued squad investment, with new Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino securing deals for Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo, France internationals Christopher Nkunku and Axel Disasi and Senegal star Nicolas Jackson from Villarreal, alongside a host of sales.

Players IN

Date Player Position Fee
July 13, 2022 Raheem Sterling Forward £47.5m / $57.6m
July 16, 2022 Kalidou Koulibaly Defender £33m / $40m
Aug. 3, 2022 Gabriel Slonina Goalkeeper £8m / $9.7m
Aug. 4, 2022 Carney Chukwuemeka Midfielder £20m / $24.3m
Aug. 5, 2022 Marc Cucurella Defender £57.5m / $69.8m
Aug. 19, 2022 Cesare Casadei Midfielder £13.3m / $16.1m
Aug. 31, 2022 Wesley Fofana Defender £70m / $84.9m
Sept. 2, 2022 Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang
Forward £10.3m / $12.5m
Sept. 2, 2022 Denis Zakaria Midfielder £2.7m / $3.2m (loan fee)
Dec. 29 2022 David Datro Fofana Forward £10.6m / $12.9m
Jan. 5, 2023 Benoit Badiashile Defender £33.7m / $40.9m
Jan. 6, 2023 Andrey Santos Midfielder £11.1m / $13.5m
Jan. 11, 2023 Joao Felix Forward £9.7m / $11.8m (loan fee)
Jan. 15, 2023 Mykhailo Mudryk Forward £62m / $75.8m
Jan. 20, 2023 Noni Madueke Forward £30m / $38m
Jan. 29, 2023 Malo Gusto Defender £26.75m / $32.75m
Jan 31, 2023 Enzo Fernandez Midfielder £107.8m / $132m
Jul 1, 2023 Christopher Nkunku Midfielder £52/ $66m
Jul 1, 2023 Diego Moreira Forward Free 
Jun 3, 2023 Nicolas Jackson Forward £31.5m/ $41.5m
Jul 16, 2023 Angelo Gabriel Forward £13m/ $16.5m
Aug 1, 2023 Lesley Ugochukwu  Midfielder £23.3m / $29.7m
Aug 4, 2023 Axel Disasi Defender £38.9m / $49.6m
Aug 5, 2023 Robert Sanchez Goalkeeper £20m / $25.3m
Aug 14, 2023 Moises Caicedo Midfielder £100m / $146m
Aug 18, 2023 Romeo Lavia Midfielder £53.2m / $67.1m
Aug 24, 2023 Deivid Washington Forward £13.7m / $17.3m
TOTALS (27 players) GKs: 2
DFs: 6
MFs: 9
FWs: 10
£899.55m / $1.03bn

Players OUT

Player Exit date Transfer Fee New club
Antonio Rudiger July 1, 2022 Released Real Madrid
Andreas Christensen July 1, 2022 Released Barcelona
Jake Salter-Clarke July 1, 2022 Released QPR
Danny Drinkwater July 1, 2022 Released N/A
Timo Werner Aug 8, 2022 £35m/$32m RB Leipzig
Emerson Palmieri Aug 26, 2022 £15m/$19.1m West Ham
Ross Barkley Aug 29, 2022 Released Nice
Marcos Alonso Sep 1, 2022 Released Barcelona
Billy Gilmour Sep 1, 2022 £9m/$11.5m Brighton & Hove Albion
Michy Batshuayi Sep 2, 2022 Released Fenerbahce
Tiemoue Bakayoko August 30, 2022 Loan AC Milan
Romelu Lukaku July 1, 2022 Loan Inter Milan
Levi Colwill Aug 5, 2022 Loan Brighton & Hove Albion
Malang Sarr Aug 10, 2022 Loan AS Monaco
Jorginho Jan 31, 2023 £12m/$15.3m Arsenal
Kalidou Koulibaly Jun 25, 2023 £17m/$21.6m Al Hilal
Mateo Kovacic Jun 27, 2023 £25m/$31.7m Manchester City
Edouard Mendy Jun 28, 2023 £16m/$20m Al Ahli
Kai Havertz Jun 28, 2023 £60m/$76m Arsenal
Tiemoue Bakayoko Jul 1, 2023 Released N/A
N'Golo Kante Jul 1, 2023 Released Al Ittihad
Ruben Loftus-Cheek Jul 4, 2023 £13.7m/$17.4m AC Milan
Mason Mount Jul 5, 2023 £55m//$70m Man United
Cesar Azpilicueta Jul 6, 2023 Free Atletico Madrid
Baba Rahman Jul 10, 2023 Free PAOK
Christian Pulisic Jul 13, 2023 £21.3m/$28m AC Milan
David Datro Fofana Jul 11, 2023 Loan Union Berlin
Ethan Ampadu Jul 19, 2023 £7m/$8.9m Leeds United
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang Jul 21, 2023 Free Marseille
Kepa Aug 14, 2023 Season-long loan Real Madrid
Hakim Ziyech Aug 19, 2023 Season-long loan Galatasaray
Gabriel Slonina Aug 10, 2023 Season-long loan KAS Eupen
Lewis Hall Aug 22, 2023 Season-long loan Newcastle 

How much money has Todd Boehly spent as Chelsea owner?

Part of the sale agreement Boehly entered into, which was ordered by the UK government after Abramovich was sanctioned over his alleged links with Russian president Vladmir Putin, required the part-owner of baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers to provide £1.75 billion ($2.1bn) to Chelsea.

That investment, which comes in addition to buying the club for £2.5bn ($3.2bn), must be made over 10 years.

Getty Images

While the exact amount Boehly has spent so far does not factor in performance-related add-ons, the published and reported figures for the 27 players above brings the sum to £899.55m / $1.03bn of the £1.75 billion initially committed.

Are Chelsea overspending for players?

The numbers of acquisitions and the hefty figures being shelled out have led some to criticise Boehly for his approach, citing his inexperience in football. However, the figures suggest Chelsea underpaid for the talent acquired by around £13.6m compared to fees other clubs were reportedly prepared to pay.

The likes of Raheem Sterling, Benoit Badiashile, Kalidou Koulibaly, Andrey Santos, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (below) all materialised for fees reportedly under figures previously bandied about.

Getty Images

However, Wesley Fofana's vast price tag was inevitable after the centre-back signed a deal months earlier, contracting him to Leicester City until 2027.

Boehly came in for criticism over the fee paid for Marc Cucurella, even before the full-back's underwhelming start to his Chelsea career, having a year earlier cost Brighton around a quarter of the fee that took him to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea pipped Arsenal on a key move, offering a bit more to Shakhtar Donetsk for Mykhailo Mudryk, to reach their €100 million valuation.

Player Previous reported
transfer fee
Final transfer fee
Gabriel Slonina £5.75m* (Fabrizio Romano) £8m
Kalidou Koulibaly £39.8m (ll Mattino) £33m
Wesley Fofana £70.8m (RMC Sport) £70m
Benoit Badiashile £44.3m (L'Equipe, via GFFN) £33.7m
Marc Cucurella £30m (Telegraph) £57.5m

Andrey Santos

£26.6m (Fabrizio Romano) £11.1m
Carney Chukwuemeka £20m (Talksport) £20m

Cesare Casadei

N/A £13.3m

Denis Zakaria

£16.8m (Football Transfers) £30m**

David Datro Fofana 

£8.9m (Fabrizio Romano) £10.6m

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

£21m (Talksport) £10.3m
Joao Felix £8m (Daily Record) £9.7m
Raheem Sterling £53.1m (Daily Star) £47.5m
Mykhailo Mudryk €84.1m (Fabrizio Romano) £88.5m
(incl. add-ons)

*Price reportedly agreed by Chelsea before sanctions prevented original transfer deal

**Option price at end of loan

Who is in charge of signing players for Chelsea?

Any football fan familiar with major Chelsea transfers over recent years would have been used to seeing director Marina Granovskaia at the centre of signing photos when the club closed deals.

Granovskaia was known as Abramovich's "transfer guru" and was regarded as one of the best in the business in European football.

Club goalkeeping legend Petr Cech was also an important part of Abramovich's team in his role as Technical and Performance Advisor, but Granovskaia, Cech and former chairman Bruce Buck all left the club in 2022 after the takeover by Boehly's group.

Marina Granovskaia Chelsea Premier League

That led to Boehly taking up the role of interim sporting director while Chelsea were in flux, but recent appointments have allowed Boehly to drop the title, and become less directly involved in transfers.

  • Technical Director: Christopher Vivell (hired Dec. 21, 2022 – placed on gardening leave in July 2023)
  • Technical Director (Global Football): Laurence Stewart (hired Oct. 26, 2022)
  • Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent: Joe Shields (hired Oct. 27, 2022)
  • Director of Global Talent and Transfers: Paul Winstanley (hired Nov. 15, 2022)
  • Recruitment specialist: Kyle Macaulay (hired September 2022)

Joe Shields joined in October as Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent, having been Head of Senior Recruitment at Southampton.

Laurence Stewart arrived as Technical Director from Monaco at the same time and was given a brief to focus on “football globally.”

Paul Winstanley oversaw the signing of players including Cucurella during eight years with at Brighton before joining Chelsea in November as Director of Global Talent and Transfers.

Christopher Vivell, who was Salzburg's head of scouting when they signed Erling Haaland, became Chelsea Technical Director a month after Winstanley was appointed.

Vivell described Chelsea as "building the most exciting project in global football". "There is so much potential for the club to continue to succeed, develop and grow," he said.

Premier League 2023/24 TV channels, live streams

Region TV Streaming
Australia Optus Sport
Canada

Fubo Canada

Hong Kong Now TV
India Star Sports Disney+, Hotstar,
JioTV
Malaysia Astro SuperSport Astro Go
New Zealand Sky Sport Sky Sport Now,
Sky Go
Singapore StarHub StarHub TV+
UK Sky Sports, TNT Sports NOW TV, Sky Go,
Amazon Prime
USA USA Network,
Telemundo, Universo
Fubo, Peacock

UK: Matches are carried across Sky Sports and TNT Sports streaming and TV platforms, with select matches on Amazon Prime.

USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on Fubo. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers.

Canada: Every Premier League game this season is live streamed exclusively via Fubo in Canada.

Australia: Fans in Australia can stream every match live and on demand on Optus Sport.

India: Star Sports network has the rights to show Premier League matches in India. As well as an English broadcast on Star Sports Select, select matches will be available via regional feeds on Star Sports 3 (in Bengali, English, Kannada, Malayalam), Star Sports 1 (Bangla) and Star Sports 1 (Tamil).

Ben Miller

Ben Miller Photo

Ben Miller has been writing about sport for 25 years, following all levels of football as well as boxing, MMA, athletics and tennis. He’s seen five promotions, three relegations, one World Cup winner and home games in at least three different stadiums as a result of his lifelong devotion to Brighton & Hove Albion. His main aim each week is to cover at least one game or event that does not require a last-minute rewrite.