The Best and Worst Chelsea Signings of the Boehly Era
Todd Boehly’s consortium has spent north of £1 billion on transfer fees since taking over Chelsea in 2022. Even by Premier League standards, that’s an absurd amount of money. And the results? All over the place. Some signings have been genuinely brilliant, while others have been so poor that most fans would happily pretend they never happened.
There have been too many players through the door to cover every single one here, so we’ve focused on the deals that really stand out. The big wins, the expensive disasters, the puzzling ones, and the deals that still could go either way.
The Hits
- Cole Palmer tops this list and it’s honestly hard to argue otherwise. Chelsea paid Manchester City around £40m for him in 2023, and he’s made that look like pocket change. He banged in 22 league goals in his first season and played a key role in winning the Conference League and Club World Cup in 2024-25. Through all the squad upheaval, he’s been the one constant. Their most important player by a mile.
- Moisés Caicedo arrived from Brighton for a British-record £115m, which raised a few eyebrows at the time. But he’s proven his worth since. He brings physicality, tireless running, an ability to break up play, and a presence in midfield that nobody else in the squad can match.
- João Pedro signed from Brighton for up to £60m in 2025 and hit the ground running straight away. He scored 20 goals across all competitions in his first season and picked up the club’s Player of the Season award. That kind of immediate impact at Stamford Bridge is something you almost never see from a new signing.
The Misses
- Mykhailo Mudryk is the one that stings the most. Chelsea hijacked Arsenal’s move for the Ukrainian winger in January 2023, paying around £62m and handing him a massive contract. He then managed just 10 goals in 73 appearances before a failed doping test in late 2024 led to a ban. He’s since been cleared to return, but it’s hard to see how his Chelsea career recovers from all of that.
- Raheem Sterling came in from Manchester City for around £48m and was supposed to be a reliable option. He wasn’t. After an underwhelming spell, he was told he had no future under Maresca and ended up leaving by mutual consent in January 2026.
- João Félix is another one that just never worked. Chelsea paid Atlético Madrid around £44.5m to make his loan permanent, and he barely left a mark. A few cameos here and there, but nothing close to justifying that kind of money.
Somewhere in Between
- Enzo Fernandez cost a then-British-record fee of around £107m from Benfica in January 2023. He’s shown flashes of real quality and has been a regular starter, but when you spend that much on a player, you expect him to be running games week in, week out. He’s a great player. But whether he’s a £107m player is a different question entirely.
- Wesley Fofana came from Leicester in 2022 for around £70m, making him one of the most expensive defenders in Premier League history. The problem hasn’t been talent. When fit, he’s looked every bit the player Chelsea thought they were getting. The issue is that he’s barely been fit. A series of knee injuries, including ACL surgery, wiped out most of his first two seasons, and recurring problems since have limited him to roughly 47 league appearances across four years. That’s about a third of what a fully available centre-back would play.
- Nicolas Jackson arrived from Villarreal for around £32m in 2023 and became Chelsea’s main striker almost by default. He scored 14 league goals in his first season and 10 in his second, plus a goal in the Club World Cup final against PSG. Productive enough to hold down a starting spot, frustrating enough for Chelsea to go and sign João Pedro and Liam Delap as competition. He spent 2025-26 on loan at Bayern Munich before returning this summer, and where he fits under Alonso is still unclear.
How Have the Blues Done This Summer?
Chelsea’s summer 2026 window has been their most headline-grabbing yet under Xabi Alonso. The headline move was breaking the British transfer record to sign Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117m, but they’ve also brought in Portuguese winger Geovany Quenda from Sporting CP and defender Marco Palestra from Atalanta. None of these players have kicked a ball in a competitive match for the Blues yet, though, so it’s far too early to judge any of them.
What we can say is that the squad looks exciting on paper. Rogers and Palmer together could form one of the best attacking partnerships in the league.
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Where Does It Leave Chelsea?
Four years and well over a billion pounds later, Boehly’s transfer record is genuinely all over the shop. For every Palmer, there’s a Mudryk. For every Caicedo, there’s a Sterling. What Chelsea fans will be hoping is that Xabi Alonso can finally bring some consistency and get this squad performing like more than just a collection of expensive individuals.
The talent is clearly there. Whether it’ll all click into place is the question that keeps following this club around.



