Rating every Chelsea signing of the Boehly era - including 2/10 flop and £40m 10/10 genius transfer

It's been a period of real mixed fortunes for Chelsea since being taken over by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium in 2022.

On one hand, there have been no Premier League titles nor domestic cup wins to celebrate - an outcome which becomes all the more galling when you take into account the figure of around £1.5 billion spent new, often unproven players during this period.

There's also been a fairly relentless manager churn - that hasn’t changed since the Roman Abramovich era - with Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino all shown the exit door in recent years. Enzo Maresca has become the latest boss to leave before the end of his contract, as tensions between the head coach and the board culminated in his New Year’s Day exit.

Thinking more positively, Chelsea have won the Club World Cup and UEFA Conference League. While the latter is perhaps an indication of how far the Blues have fallen since their Champions League winning heyday, it did at least allow the club to 'complete the set' in terms of honours won.

As drama continues to rumble behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues'current dip in form likely to have ruffled the feathers of those at the top of the food chain, thought now inevitably turns to the January transfer window and who a new manager could sign - an opportunity that the likes of sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart simply can't afford to get wrong.

Now Fabrizio Romano - who has presumably spent the past few months frozen in a carbonite prison within the depths of Elon Musk's eerie X HQ lair - has scaled Mount Everest to ring the ceremonial bell and declare the transfer window open once more, it's time for Chelsea to embark upon a new spree of wheeling and dealing.

As the dust settles on Maresca’s departure and anticipation builds for the club to announce the signing of a 54th backup winger and a seven-year-old Bolivian wonderkid destined to spend the rest of their life on loan at distant planet RC Strasbourg, here is our rating of every signing the club have made - who've made at least ten appearances since joining - under their current ownership.

Chelsea's best and worst signings under Todd Boehly - 2022/23

Raheem Sterling - 4/10

Of course they kicked things off by signing a winger. Of course they did. It has to be said that signing one of England's most consistent, high-quality players for almost £50m was a pretty bold, landmark statement to make as first transfers go.

Eager for a new challenge after winning five Premier League titles and multiple other domestic honours with Man City, things unfortunately just haven't worked out for the 31-year-old ex-Liverpool gem, who has been banished to the 'bomb squad' after failing to impress either Pochettino or Maresca enough to warrant a place in the side.

For the sake of both the club and the player's career, a January exit for Sterling could only be a good thing.

Carney Chukwumeaka - 3/10

An early indication of the ownership's desire to spend big on raw talent, Chukwumeaka arrived from Aston Villa for a £20m fee a couple of weeks after Sterling, signing a six-year-deal.

His Blues career never truly got up and running, with a series of injuries preventing him from making a case to break into the already stacked midfield.

Sold for a profit to Borussia Dortmund last summer with a decent sell-on fee clause whacked into the bargain, Chelsea somehow emerged from the experience without making a financial loss, which is something.

Marc Cucurella - 8/10

Chelsea's summer spending continued, as the club dropped a casual £60m on the Spain international.

After a mixed start initially, the charismatic left-back has grown to become one of the first names on the team sheet for the Blues, consistently putting in top quality performances thanks to his seemingly inexhaustible levels stamina.

The renowned appreciator of both Estrella and paella looks set to become a cult hero at the club.

Cesare Casadei - 3/10

After just scraping over the ten-game threshold to make the list, you'd be forgiven for indulging in a spot of synaptic pruning and obliterating the fading memory of the towering Italian midfielder playing for Chelsea.

He joined the Blues for around £17m as a 19-year-old prospect and spent some time out on loan with both Reading and Leicester City.

Managerial changes and a wealth of midfield competition meant he never really had a chance to cement his place in the Chelsea side, and he was dispatched to Torino permanently last winter for a relatively small financial loss.

Wesley Fofana - 6/10

75 million Great British Pounds were merrily wheelbarrowed over to the King Power Stadium to secure this big-money signing from Leicester City in the summer of 2022.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, his career at the club so far has been completely tarnished by a string of serious injuries including those to both his knee and ACL.

It's easy to forget that the France international is still only 25-years-old, so he's still got the potential to move past his injury woes and become an elite Premier League defender.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 2/10

A real blast from the past here, as Boehly et al rolled backed the years to close the summer setlist with all-time classic 'Chelsea Buying a Once Excellent Striker Who is Now Well Past Their Best'

He'd scored bucket-loads of goals for Borussia Dortmund, slightly smaller bucket-loads of goals for Arsenal, and a promising pint glass of goals for Barcelona before making the move to Stamford Bridge in September 2022 before the summer deadline.

At just over £10m, it was at least a relatively low-cost punt, but the signing of Aubameyang still slots neatly alongside those of - takes deep breath - rapidly fading former stars Adriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto'o, Radamel Falcao, and Gonzalo Higuain.

He netted just three times in 22 appearances for the Blues, before slinking off to Marseille where, inevitably, he's been back in the goals again.

Benoit Badiashile - 4/10

Right, fellas. You know the drill - go easy in the January transfer window and reserve those funds for the summer when you're less likely to panic buy or get ripped off. Can anyone hear me? Fellas? Fellas!

Determined to do things their way, Chelsea's relatively new owners kicked off a spectacularly risky January spend in the region of £285m with the signing of Benoit Badiashile from Monaco.

He's another player whose Chelsea career has been wrecked by injuries. When he has played, his ball-playing abilities and composure in possession leave a lot to be desired for a £35m signing, and he's yet to show he's got what it takes at Premier League level.

Andre Santos - 6/10

Another 'wonderkid' signing, Santos must be credited for doing his time out on loan - with his boyhood club Vasco de Gama, then Nottingham Forest and finally Strasbourg - before breaking into the first team squad.

While he's not had much in the way of regular game time, he has looked impressive when given his chance and was named Man of the Match in the Blues' win over Burnley back in November last year when filling in for Moises Caicedo.

Only time will tell whether he can eventually be a starter, but with a bit of luck and patience he could prove to be a shrewd signing indeed at £18m.

Mykhailo Mudryk - 1/10

Oh, boy - where to begin? Blues fans rejoiced in unison as the owners seemingly got one over on Arsenal, hijacking their London rivals to nab the Ukranian winger for a hefty £62m fee.

After a dazzling debut against Liverpool in which he looked like Eden Hazard reborn, Mudryk's form promptly fell off a cliff, and he never reached the heights promised by that tantalising first appearance.

Mudryk has not played a game for Chelsea since late 2024, after failing a drugs test and being charged with a doping offence by the FA. He could well never play for the club again, and is looking to be a catastrophic waste of money as things stand.

Noni Madueke - 6/10

A real success story of Maresca's time at Chelsea - or he was, before he was bundled off to the Emirates Stadium last summer. Madueke took his time to establish himself at Stamford Bridge, but then defied expectations of becoming another buy-to-loan-to-eventually-sell flop. Only the ‘eventually sell’ part came true,

Sold to Arsenal for nearly a £20m profit after a promising spell with the Blues, Madueke is a clear example of the club's desire to buy players young and get them shifted on quickly for a big win on the balance books. Whether this is a sustainable practice for success on the field is a debate for another day.

Chelsea could well rue their decision to sell the ex-Spurs prospect, given their history of parting company with burgeoning talents too prematurely. Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne, anyone?

Malo Gusto - 7/10

Another slow-burning signing, Gusto has emerged as a reliable rotation option for the Blues after joining as a 19-year-old from Lyon. He's been invaluable cover for skipper Reece James during his dire run with injury problems, and can also play in a number of positions.

Enzo Fernandes - 8/10

£106m was flung the way of Benfica for the Argentina international, in arguably the biggest transfer gamble Chelsea have ever made.

Another player who initially struggle amidst the turmoil and manager turnover at the club - and that awful business with Argentina in the summer of 2024 - Enzo has emerged as a real leader for Chelsea and netted in their Conference League final win over Real Betis.

It's hard for any player to justify such an eye-watering fee with their performances, but Fernandez, aged 24, has all the potential to reward the club's high-risk investment.

Chelsea's best and worst signings under Todd Boehly - 2023/24

Nicolas Jackson - 5/10

Having finished the 2022/23 season 12th in the Premier League and dispatched from both domestic cup competitions in the third round, Chelsea had a choice to make: rein to spending or double down. Which way did they go? The latter, of course, to the tune of almost £400m.

Chelsea needed goals, and they needed them badly, ending the previous season with Kai Havertz their top league scorer with a meagre seven goals. After being linked with a host of top quality strikers, the Blues took their taste for everything raw to levels even devotees of the Carnivore Diet would find unpalatable, by spending £32m on Jackson.

A lethal finisher on his day, a bumbling buffoon at his worst, Jackson's reasonable tally of 30 goals in 81 appearances was marred by the sheer number of clear opportunities on goal he squandered - and those two needless red cards towards the end of last season.

He's now at Bayern Munich on loan, but there's very little chance they'll trigger the option to sign him permanently.

Christopher Nkunku - 2/10

Nkunku's Chelsea career got off to the worst possible start, after he suffered a serious knee injury on an appalling pitch in a pre-season friendly at Soldier Field in Chicago.

That disastrous beginning set the tone for the rest of his brief, injury-ravaged career at Stamford Bridge. He joined AC Milan last summer, with the Blues making a loss of around £16m on the £52m they initially spent.

Lesely Ugochukwu - 3/10

A highly-rated teenager who joined Chelsea only to suffer a string of injuries, go out on loan, and then be sold soon after? I think I've seen this film before - and I didn't like the ending. He's now plying his trade for Burnley, where he'll be looking to revive his career after the initial blip at Stamford Bridge.

Axel Disasi - 4/10

Putting the 'Disas' in disaster, Disasi followed in the footsteps of Badiashile - joining from Monaco for an eye-watering fee, almost £40m in this case - before flopping.

In fairness, he has shown more promise than his French compatriot, but his penchant for a mortifying error means he won't be regular starter for Chelsea any time soon. A current member of the infamous 'bomb squad', you'd expect him to leave the club either this January or in the summer.

Robert Sanchez - 6/10

While we're on the subject of mortifying errors, it's perhaps a suitable juncture to introduce Robert Sanchez.

Signed from Chelsea’s favourite high-end supermarket, Brighton & Hove Albion, Sanchez fitted the mould of yes, you guessed it, 'raw with high potential'.

An impressive shot-stopper and a hero in the Club World Cup final, but a clownish villain on so many occasions when dawdling on the ball, completely out of position between the sticks or flapping wildly at a cross, Sanchez's unpredictability remains a serious worry at the back for Chelsea.

Moises Caicedo - 9/10

A real diamond in the rough, Caicedo represents one of the finest captures in the post-Abramovich era - albeit a rather pricey one.

Nipping back to Brighton with a bit of spare change to spend, the Blues invested a tasty £100m to sign the Ecuadorian midfielder.

Much like Fernandez, Caicedo didn’t come flying out of the blocks at Stamford Bridge, but he has now emerged as one of world football's most talented midfielders - blessed with both technical ability and a relentless desire and capability to win back possession.

Romeo Lavia - 6/10

Young. Promising. Very Expensive. Injuries. You get the gist. Once he does get his chance, however, Lavia looks more likely than most of the Blues' gambles to pay off.

Djorde Petrovic - 4/10

The Serbian stopper impressed on loan at Strasbourg to the extent he looked a likely option to become the Blues' new number one this season.

Instead, the club opted to double their money by flipping him to Premier League rivals Bournemouth. A tasty profit made - but at what cost to the Blues' on-field aspirations?

Cole Palmer - 10/10

The social media meltdown that greeted Chelsea's £40m capture of Palmer from Man City was something to behold, as keyboards across the globe were hammered in fury upon the dynamic forward's arrival.

46 goals and 29 assists later, it's fair to say that rage was somewhat premature. Chelsea's Ballon d'Or nominated star boy is now among the Premier League's top talents, and has to be seen as a serious success in the transfer market.

Chelsea's best and worst signings under Todd Boehly - 2024/25

Tosin Adarabioyo - 7/10

Another season without a trophy followed, but new manager Mauricio Pochettino did at least make it to the end of the campaign unscathed. Two days after the season concluded, however, Pochettino left.

In came Maresca, and with him another slew of new signings. Tosin saw the club remarkably opt to fish in the bargain bin, hauling in the ex-Fulham centre-back on a free transfer.

A rare leader in a squad packed with inexperience, the 28-year-old has done a decent job filling in for first-choice options Levi Colwill and Fofana.

Marc Guiu - 5/10

Was Guiu really the answer to Chelsea's ongoing search for a reliable striker? Of course not. Will he end up going on loan to Strasbourg next season before joining a basement Premier League club for £10.5m? Almost certainly.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 6/10

As a little treat for Maresca following his arrival from Leicester, the Italian coach was allowed to bring in a home comfort in the form of the Foxes' star midfielder for £30m.

Unfortunately for KDH, his action was largely restricted to substitute appearances in the league, with most of his appearances coming in the domestic cups and Conference League, playing in all 15 matches of Chelsea's campaign in the latter.

The Blues pretty much broke even when they sold him to Everton last summer, where he's thrived in a more prominent role under David Moyes.

Renato Veiga - 5/10

Are you a talented young footballer keen for a seven-year contract that means absolutely nothing? Then don't hesitate to join Chelsea at your nearest convenience.

Joined for £12m, billed as a top star for the future, left after 18 appearances for a significant profit following a loan spell away from the club. Next.

Filip Jorgensen - 5/10

Chelsea spent just over £20m to sign the Danish goalkeeper from Villarreal. He's looked far from convincing in his limited first team appearances for the Blues, as is often the case for bench-warming goalkeepers.

Pedro Neto - 7/10

A deal that seemingly came out of nowhere, Neto's £51m move to Chelsea went from a transfer rumour to a completed deal in the blink of an eye.

He's taken his time to get up to speed, but Neto is now a regular and fairly reliable starter for the Blues, boasting some serious dribbling skills. It's Neto's end-product that's currently lacking, but if he can hone his crossing and finishing abilities, Chelsea could have a serious star on their hands.

Joao Felix - 2/10

It went so well the first time, why not spend £45m to bring former loan flop Felix back to the club permanently?

In a piece of business you'd expect Ralph Wiggum to conduct were he given the reins at Chelsea, the Blues opted to re-sign the Portugal international for some serious dollar on a seven-year deal.

Inevitably, he failed to produce the goods once again, and was sent packing to AC Milan on loan, before securing a move to Al-Nassr. A diabolical bit of business from Chelsea.

Chelsea's best and worst signings under Todd Boehly - 2025/26

Liam Delap - 5/10

After a much-improved season that saw the Blues win two trophies and qualify for the Champions League, Chelsea were ready to flex those bulging transfer market muscles once again.

In came bustling striker Delap, who enjoyed an impressive Premier League campaign with Ipswich Town the previous season. It's early days, but with just two goals in 19 appearances, the Blues will be fearing another recurrence of their dreaded 'striker curse'.

Joao Pedro - 7/10

After his explosive Club World Cup campaign, Chelsea looked to be onto a real winner. But perhaps a victim of his own versatility, Pedro is yet to find a regular position in the Chelsea side, but has managed to notch up a respectable seven goals for the club since his £55m move from Brighton.

Jamie Gittens - 5/10

Chelsea spent close to £50m to sign Gittens from Borussia Dortmund last summer. So far, he's failed to justify that price tag, but has chipped in with the odd assist, showcasing his impressive crossing ability. Gittens has some serious competition for a starting place at Chelsea, given that their wings are more heavily loaded than the Soviet era Antonov An-225 Mriya.

Jorrel Hato - 5/10

Another day, another £36m dropped on a teenage footballer.

The Football Manager wonderkid favourite has barely played since joining the club, so his signing can't be judged too harshly just yet. He could well go back on loan to Ajax this month, at which point the Blues will inevitably suffer a defensive injury crisis.

Estevao - 8/10

Now, this is an exciting one. Tipped as the next Neymar, Estevao clearly has all the potential - there's that word again - to become a club icon. Given his tender years, he's not played too much first team football yet, but has put in some dazzling cameo performances when given the opportunity.

That stunning goal against Barcelona earlier this season was a blockbuster introduction to the footballing world. This deal will surely pay off big-time within a season or two.

Alejandro Garnacho - 6/10

The almighty collective groan from Blues fans that met Chelsea's £40m signing of Garnacho from Man United tell you everything you need to know about the fans’ perspective on how the club’s transfer policy these days.

£40m blown on yet another winger when the club was crying out for a new striker was deemed by many to be a sloppy bit of business, but to give Garnacho his dues, he's started of his Blues career in a more impressive style than the club's average big-money signing.