Chelsea’s record-breaking transfer window was a hot topic as Premier League managers addressed the media for the first time since Tuesday’s deadline.
The Blues were the most active top-flight club in the transfer market, signing seven players at a staggering cost of £321m – a total that included an English record fee of £107m for World Cup-winning midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica and the £88.5m signing of winger Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Speaking on Thursday, Chelsea boss Graham Potter suggested that subsequent windows would “be different” to the first two overseen by new owner Todd Boehly but acknowledged that other Premier League clubs may be resentful of their lavish expenditure since last summer. The club has spent over half a billion pounds on transfer and loan fees alone since being taken over by Boehly and Clearlake Capital at the end of May.
Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Frank were among those who spoke about Chelsea’s signings and transfer spending in general during their Friday press conferences.
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Liverpool made only one signing last month, buying highly-rated Dutch forward Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven in a deal worth £35m at the very start of the window.
Despite pleas from supporters, the Reds did not add a central midfielder to the squad despite being linked to Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham amongst others.
Klopp has been outspoken on other club’s transfer habits in the recent past, suggesting that state-owned teams like Manchester City, PSG and Newcastle can “do whatever they want” in the market.
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 3, 2023
“I say nothing without my lawyer. I don’t understand this part of the buisness, what can you do? It’s a big number. Congratulations, you can do it. I don’t understand how it’s possible.”
Jürgen Klopp on Chelsea’s emphatic spending.pic.twitter.com/Ng9RvzCOmw
“I say nothing without my lawyer!” Klopp quipped when asked about Chelsea’s influx of arrivals. “No, I’m joking. I don’t understand this part of the business, like what you can do and what you cannot do. They are all really good players, so from that point of view, congratulations.
“I don’t understand how it’s possible, but it’s obviously not for me to explain how it works.
“It will happen at some point that they will play well together, but how quick, I don’t know.”
Arteta: ‘Chelsea’s spending is the context that we are living in’
By Martin Bedford
Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal will maintain “discipline and respect” in the transfer market after missing out on two key targets in January.
The Gunners sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League table and strenghtened their squad with three additions during the recent window.
But, while Leandro Trossard’s arrival from Brighton, the recruitment of promising Poland international defender Jakub Kiwior and the deadline day deal for Jorginho from Chelsea will bolster Arteta’s ranks, the club failed to land their preferred choices.
Chelsea’s January splurge saw them hijack a move for Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk when Arsenal thought a deal was all-but done, while Brighton were steadfast in their decision not to allow Moises Caicedo to depart.
Arsenal could have arguably delivered both of those deals had they gone above their valuation of the pair but, when it was put to him that the moves not materialising may give the club more money to spend in the summer, Arteta laughed off the suggestion.
Chelsea’s January recruits
- Enzo Fernandez (£106.8m from Benfica)
- Mykhailo Mudryk (£88.5m from Shakhtar Donetsk)
- Benoit Badiashile (£35m from Monaco)
- Noni Madueke (£26m from PSV)
- Malo Gusto (£26m from Lyon)
- Andrey Santos (£18m from Vasco Da Gama)
- David Datro Fofana (£10.5m from Molde)
- Joao Felix (£10m loan fee from Atletico Madrid)
When asked whether the amount of money spent on transfers last month was good or bad for football, Arteta responded: “It’s the context that we are living in. We had in our side the possibility to do certain things that we didn’t do in the summer, and we were willing to improve the squad.
“I think this squad is still in a moment that we cannot waste any opportunity to evolve it in the way that whether it is to give players minutes, whether it is to improve the depth to the squad and I think every team tries to do the same.”
Guardiola: ‘What Chelsea do is none of my business’
By Ian Whittell
Pep Guardiola has accused his Premier League rivals of hypocrisy after Chelsea spent £323 million in the January transfer window.
The Manchester City manager was limited to one modest signing, £8 million Argentine youngster Maximo Perrone, while losing full-back Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich last month.
And Guardiola insisted that Abu Dhabi-owned City would have been widely criticised if they had embarked on the same sort of spending spree as Chelsea.
“I know what would happen, it happened the last five or six years,” said Guardiola.
“Despite being the fifth or sixth in the Premier League team for net spend, we won 11 trophies, four Premier Leagues in the last five years.
“That is what really counts to us. What Chelsea have done is none of my business.
“We know exactly how we are working. Of course, we need good players. What Chelsea believes, what Arsenal believes, what Liverpool, United believes, without good players we cannot compete. You have to spend.
“But now the market is ‘wow!’ What Chelsea do is not my business. I never involve opinions in other clubs because there are regulations, rules that we have to do it.
“We were accused. I don’t forget, eight or nine teams in the Premier League send a letter to the Premier League for us to be banned.
“That happened to us. We are the fifth team in net spend in the last five years. That is the reality.”
Frank: ‘I would love if we could limit spending… I admire Potter and Cooper for handling big squads’
“This is not against Chelsea. I don’t want to go the American way with drafts and no relegation and a salary cap. But I would love if there was something that just could limit it a bit,” said Brentford boss Thomas Frank.
“I think it just disrupts the competition that some clubs can do what Chelsea have done over just two windows, it’s more [or less] £600m around two windows which I think is crazy. It’s really a lot of money.
“I don’t know exactly what you can do. If you say you can only buy a certain number of players or have that many players in your squad or whatever, I think that would be good for the competition in the Premier League. And I think it would be good for the competition in European football. I think there was another crazy stat that the Premier League has spent more money in this window compared to the other four of the “big five” leagues which is also an uneven balance.
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 3, 2023
Thomas Frank on Chelsea’s spending.
“If we want a competitive Europa League or Conference League or Champions League and not only the top four of the Premier League winning everything every single time.”
He added: “I think it’s even more impressive that we were maybe the second-lowest budget and luckily enough money is not everything. But we know over time that if you have the most money, a good strategy and the right people, then the most money will win. But if you don’t have the right strategy or the people, maybe we can compete.
“Another thing I’ve been thinking about, I really admire in many ways [Graham] Potter and [Steve] Cooper. They are two brilliant coaches. I’ve met them several times and really like the work they do and the challenge they have to integrate players into their squad is big. That must be the biggest challenge. I would really like to hear how they do that.”
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