Ranking every Chelsea signing under Todd Boehly from worst to best with £1billion spent

With Todd Boehly leaving Chelsea this week, we thought we'd look back at every signing the American made to rank them from worst to best

And so, the Todd Boehly era is officially over - closing one of the most chaotic, baffling, and high-spending chapters in Chelsea's history. The American billionaire, who served as chairman for the last four years, has now sold his stake to majority owner Clearlake Capital, handing full control of the club to the private equity firm led by Behdad Eghbali.

Despite serving as the public face of Chelsea's wild post-Abramovich transition, the truth is that Boehly's actual influence at the club had been waning for some time. Following behind-the-scenes clashes with Clearlake over managerial appointments, recruitment strategy, and stadium redevelopment, he gradually drifted out of day-to-day operations.

That was hardly the case at the beginning. Between 2022 and 2024, Boehly sat front and centre. Acting as interim sporting director during his first summer, he spearheaded an aggressive teardown and rebuild - eventually splashing over £1billion on players in a radical attempt to turn Chelsea into an algorithm-driven, spreadsheet-powered transfer powerhouse.

Though co-sporting directors were later brought in to handle the mechanics, Boehly's initial blitz set off an unprecedented spending spree. Across that frantic period, Chelsea brought in a staggering 31 signings. Here, we'vee attempted to rank each signing from worst to best.

31. Mykhailo Mudryk

Mykhailo Mudryk will go down as one of the costliest blunders in Chelsea's history - which is really saying something for a club that famously broke the bank to sign Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku and Andriy Shevchenko.

The Ukrainian offered up an electric, heart-racing debut at Anfield in January 2023 and... well, that was pretty much it. Ever since, he's looked timid, bewildered, and desperately short of the pizzazz you'd expect from a guy Chelsea agreed to potentially pay £89million for.

To top it all off, a doping ban left Chelsea stuck with a wildly expensive passenger they couldn't play or sell. Now he's out on loan at Tottenham - of all places - and unless he pulls off a proper miracle in North London, his Stamford Bridge career looks dead and buried. What a waste of money.

30. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

What an absolute circus this was. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was parachuted in purely at the request of Thomas Tuchel, who desperately needed a striker after his explosive fallout with Romelu Lukaku. The pair had worked wonders together at Dortmund, so it felt like a cozy reunion. The punchline? Boehly sacked Tuchel literally days later.

Enter Graham Potter, who didn't seem to fancy the Gabon international in the slightest, choosing to play Kai Havertz as a makeshift No. 9 instead. Before long, Aubameyang wasn't even bothering to hide his buyer's remorse, looking like a guy who deeply regretted answering his phone. He trudged through the season with a grand total of one Premier League goal in 15 games and was even unceremoniously chopped from Chelsea’s Champions League knockout squad.

Less than a year after dropping £10 million to sign him, Chelsea let him walk away on a free transfer. In many ways, this move was the ultimate poster child for the early Boehly era: zero foresight, pure chaos, and a very pricey headache.

29. David Datro Fofana

David Datro Fofana never really looked like Premier League material. Snapped up from Molde for £10m in January 2023, the Ivorian striker made four supremely forgettable appearances before vanishing straight into Chelsea's bottomless loan abyss.

What followed was a dizzying world tour - with moves to Union Berlin, Burnley, Goztepe, Fatih Karagumruk and sister club Strasbourg, none of which yielded much to write home about. Having accumulated far more air miles than goals, he was finally quietly offloaded to Swiss side Servette for just £2.1m. Not Chelsea's most expensive blunder, but a blunder nonetheless.

28. Christopher Nkunku

To be fair, Nkunku's £52m deal was actually ironed out before Boehly took the wheel, but the Frenchman still stands out as one of the BlueCo era's pricier missteps.

A brutal pre-season knee injury wiped out a big chunk of his debut season. By the time he finally limped back to fitness, Nicolas Jackson had firmly claimed the main striker spot as his own. Nkunku was left playing second fiddle, with his primary claim to fame being a modest seven-goal spree across 11 games in Chelsea's 2024/25 Conference League campaign - hardly the main-stage magic they had paid for.

Ultimately, he never looked - or played - like the bona fide superstar Chelsea thought they'd bagged. AC Milan eventually took him off their hands for £36m last year; a surprisingly decent recovery fee for a player who never really got going, but still a heavy loss on the original investment.

27. Jimmy-Jay Morgan

Chelsea dropped around £6m to snatch Jimmy-Jay Morgan from Southampton's academy back in 2023. Fresh off making Saints' bench for an FA Cup tie, the young attacking midfielder opted to head back to Stamford Bridge, where he'd previously spent three years as a schoolboy.

Unfortunately, the homecoming proved to be a whole lot of nothing. Morgan largely kicked his heels in academy limbo before being shipped off to League Two club Gillingham in 2025, followed by another loan stint at Peterborough. He was finally sold off to West Brom on a permanent deal this summer.

With the Baggies handing over roughly £4 million, Chelsea effectively ate a £2 million loss on a kid who never got anywhere near the first-team dressing room.

26. Deivid Washington

Chelsea shelled out a hefty £17.2m to snatch Brazilian starlet Deivid Washington from Santos. He managed to scratch together three first-team appearances under Mauricio Pochettino, but Enzo Maresca's arrival promptly sent him sliding way down the pecking order.

Following a brief, thoroughly unremarkable loan spell back at Santos, Washington was quietly moved along to Chelsea's sister club Strasbourg for roughly £7m this summer. That left the Blues swallowing a cool £10m loss on the books - though hey, at least he actually made it onto the pitch for the senior team!

25. Ishe Shamuels-Smith

Yet another youngster signed seemingly for the sole purpose of playing spreadsheet gymnastics, Ishe Samuels-Smith joined from Everton for a reported £4m in 2023.

Naturally, he never made a single senior appearance for Chelsea. A quiet loan stint at Swansea last season brought a grand total of six outings, and he was packed off to League One side Notts County this summer.

He's still technically on the books for now, but he looks well on his way to becoming another low-profile punt that ultimately just ate up time and money.

24. Alex Matos

Chelsea spotted a low-risk opportunity for a free-transfer gamble when they snapped up Alex Matos in 2023. The defensive midfielder actually managed a couple of first-team cameos - including a brief Premier League outing in October 2023 - before the reality of the step up set in.

Loan spells at Huddersfield Town and Oxford United effectively confirmed that the Championship was his ceiling. Chelsea eventually flipped him to Sheffield United for £1m. Hey, pure profit is pure profit!

23. Gabriel Slonina

There was considerable buzz around "Gaga" Slonina when Chelsea dropped £8.3m to snatch him from Chicago Fire in 2022. After all, the US has a fine tradition of exporting stellar Premier League shot-stoppers like Brad Friedel and Tim Howard.

Fast forward a few years, though, and the hype has steadily fizzled out. Now 22, the Illinois native has finally crept into Chelsea's first-team squad, albeit strictly as a third-choice option tucked behind Emiliano Martinez and Mike Penders.

With that much traffic ahead of him in line, his chances of ever putting on the gloves for a big match - or Chelsea seeing a decent return on their investment - look exceptionally thin.

22. Cesare Casadei

Chelsea fans could hardly be blamed for getting excited when new arrival Cesare Casadei was prematurely dubbed the "Italian Michael Ballack" following his £12.5m move from Inter Milan in 2022.

He landed in London as one of Italian football's hottest prospects, but despite showing the occasional flash of quality, he never quite lived up to the billing. Solid if unremarkable loan spells at Reading and Leicester followed, but he never really made a splash back at Stamford Bridge - even after clocking up 11 appearances under Mauricio Pochettino.

In 2024, Chelsea shipped him off to Torino for the exact £12.5m they paid. The Blues got their money back, but they'll be quietly disappointed that Ballack 2.0 never materialised.

21. Angelo Gabriel

Another Santos wonderkid brought into the fold, Angelo Gabriel arrived at Chelsea for a cool £13m in 2023. He never actually played a single competitive minute for the Blues, but he proved to be a surprisingly effective cog in their money-making machinery.

After spending a year on loan at sister club Strasbourg, the Brazilian winger was flipped to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr for a slick £19.4m. Chelsea walked away with a sweet £6m profit, and Gabriel got to go rub shoulders with Cristiano Ronaldo. Everybody wins.

20. Axel Disasi

Signed from Monaco for £38.5m as emergency cover for the injured Wesley Fofana in 2023, Axel Disasi never quite looked at home in Chelsea's backline. His heavy frame and distinct lack of pace gave him the mobility of a lumbering tank, and by the time Maresca arrived a year later, he was practically persona non grata.

He quickly slid down to fifth-choice centre-back, collecting most of his minutes in the Conference League with Chelsea's glorified B-team. Loans to Aston Villa, West Ham and Crystal Palace followed, and having some decent spells of form, he's proven remarkably tough to shift permanently.

His Stamford Bridge career is all but dead, and Chelsea will almost certainly have to swallow a hefty loss whenever they finally manage to take him off the wage bill for good.

19. Lesley Ugochukwu

A product of Rennes' famed academy, Lesley Ugochukwu arrived at Chelsea for £23.1m in 2023. Unluckily for him, he immediately found himself stuck in a massive midfield traffic jam behind Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Enzo Fernandez and Conor Gallagher, ultimately scraping together just 12 Premier League appearances.

A loan spell at Southampton followed the next season before Chelsea quietly flipped him to Burnley for £24m. That bagged the Blues a grand total of £900,000 in profit on paper - meaning he was, quite literally, just about worth the trouble!

18. Benoit Badiashile

Benoit Badiashile initially looked like a rare piece of shrewd business. Arriving from Monaco for £32m in January 2023, the French defender immediately helped steady a rocky backline during the tail end of a deeply turbulent season.

That honeymoon period didn't last long, though. His form quickly nosedived, he struggled for any real consistency under Pochettino, and by the time Maresca took over in 2024, he was promptly exiled to Chelsea's Conference League B-team.

Much like his former Monaco buddy Axel Disasi, he's proven tricky to shift on a permanent deal. Chelsea did at least manage to pocket a £2m loan fee by sending him off to Napoli this summer, but after such a promising start, Badiashile ultimately goes down as another expensive misstep.

17. Carney Chukwuemeka

Carney Chukwuemeka arrived from Aston Villa in 2022 boasting a reputation as one of the brightest young prospects in English football. Chelsea dropped a hefty £15m to secure his signature, and it didn't take long for him to start showing why.

A stunning goal against West Ham on the opening weekend of the 2023/24 season seemed to herald his arrival as the Premier League's next big thing. Cruelly, though, he suffered a severe knee injury later that very same afternoon - a blow that effectively derailed his entire Stamford Bridge career before it ever really took flight.

Following a loan spell at Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea eventually made the move permanent for £20m. That handed the Blues a tidy £5 million profit on a player who never got to do an awful lot in West London, but certainly had all the talent to.

16. Romeo Lavia

When he's actually fit, Romeo Lavia is a serious player. The trouble is, "fitness" has been a ridiculously rare luxury for the Belgian. After joining from Southampton for £53m in 2023, Lavia spent virtually his entire debut season setting up camp on the treatment table, managing just a single, lonely appearance.

The injury curse stayed glued to him, too. He missed 42 games in 2023/24 and another 33 in 2024/25. In fact, it took until the summer of 2026 for him to finally complete a full 90 minutes in a Chelsea shirt.

Things are looking up right now, mind you. He currently boasts a clean bill of health and is heavily involved in Xabi Alonso's setup. He might yet prove his worth, but after squeezing just 33 league games out of a £53m asset over three long years, he remains an exceptionally pricey disappointment for the time being.

15. Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea career may have ended like a colossal bin fire, but he dodges the absolute bottom of this list thanks to a decent enough first couple of seasons at Stamford Bridge. Arriving from Manchester City for £47.5m, Sterling quickly became Chelsea's go-to attacking outlet.

He chipped in with 19 goals in 81 games, but never quite hit the dazzling heights he reached at the Etihad - which, given his eye-watering £325,000-a-week wage packet, wasn't exactly great value for money.

Then came the grand finale. After throwing a strop when Enzo Maresca left him out of the squad, Sterling went nuclear on social media. Maresca promptly banished him, turning him overnight into an extraordinarily expensive headache.

Following a loan spell at Arsenal and a six-month stint in Chelsea's infamous "bomb squad," both parties finally agreed to tear up his contract in early 2026. A dramatic end to what was ultimately a wasteful move for all involved.

14. Wesley Fofana

Chelsea thought they had pulled off a massive coup when they pried Wesley Fofana away from Leicester for an eye-watering £70m in 2022. It was a staggering fee, sure, but Fofana was widely touted as one of the hottest young defenders on the planet - and Premier League-proven to boot.

Unfortunately, after a promising start, injuries completely derailed his West London career. He missed the bulk of his debut season, the entirety of his second campaign, and managed just 14 appearances in his third.

He has since managed to patch himself back together, though the once-indomitable defender looks like he's lost a bit of confidence, pace and quality. He hasn't come anywhere near justifying that mammoth price tag, but after finally getting - and staying - fit, he's turned into a genuinely useful cog in Chelsea's ever-revolving backline.

13. Kalidou Koulibaly

Kalidou Koulibaly's stint in West London was short and sweet - well, "sweet" is probably stretching it, considering the 2022/23 campaign was one of Chelsea's grimmest in living memory. Still, you could hardly pin all that misery on the Senegal international.

Arriving from Napoli for £33m with a big reputation as one of Europe's top centre-backs, Koulibaly never quite reached those world-class heights in England. He was... fine. Perfectly passable, but he rarely blew anyone's socks off.

Just 12 months later, Chelsea shipped him off to Saudi side Al-Hilal for £20m. Taking a £13m hit on paper isn't ideal, but clawing back twenty big ones for a 32-year-old after a so-so season was decent damage control. Given more time, he might have eventually found his feet - but in the Boehly blender, time was a luxury nobody got.

12. Diego Moreira

How does a guy who made just one solitary appearance for Chelsea wind up 12th on this list, you ask? Profit, baby. Profit.

The Blues snapped up the Belgian wide man on a free transfer after his Benfica contract expired in 2023. A year later - following a forgettable loan stint at Lyon - he was shipped off to Chelsea's sister club, Strasbourg, for a modest £1.7m. Peanuts, right? Well, the real genius was hidden in the fine print: a massive 40% sell-on clause.

Fast forward to this summer, and AC Milan went and dropped an eye-popping £42.8m (potentially rising to £60.9m) to take Moreira to Serie A. That neat little clause meant Chelsea quietly pocketed a massive £17m windfall - potentially rising to £24.3m - for a player who barely set foot on the Stamford Bridge pitch. Now that is peak financial wizardry.

11. Robert Sanchez

Laugh all you want at how ridiculously high the error-prone Robert Sanchez sits on this list, but a few things are worth keeping in mind: he only cost £20m, held down the No. 1 shirt for three whole years despite a constant conveyor belt of challengers, and actually put together a few genuinely solid spells of form.

Granted, the Spaniard will always be a magnet for banter after dropping his fair share of absolute clangers. But for the most part, he was... well, passable. Unreliable and heart-attack-inducing at times, sure, but far from a total loss.

The ex-Brighton man was finally shipped off on loan to Como following the emergency arrival of Emiliano Martinez - a move triggered directly by Sanchez's horror-show against Fulham on opening day. He was by no means a roaring success, but he wasn't nearly the unmitigated disaster history will make him out to be.

10. Omari Hutchinson

Another pure profit masterclass, Omari Hutchinson made Chelsea a tidy pile of cash without making much of an impact at Stamford Bridge. The winger joined the club on a free transfer in 2022 after walking away from Arsenal's academy.

He made a couple of brief cameos for Chelsea’s senior side before being packed off on loan to Ipswich in 2023. One fantastic season later - after helping the Tractor Boys secure promotion to the Premier League - Ipswich made the deal permanent for a cool £20m.

Given that he hasn't exactly turned into "the one that got away," turning a free agent into twenty million quid with almost zero first-team footprint is properly good business.

9. Andrey Santos

While plenty of Chelsea fans were gutted to see Andrey Santos leave this summer - especially to a direct rival like Manchester United - it's pretty hard to argue with the cold, hard logic behind it.

After snapping up the Brazilian prospect for just £10m from Vasco da Gama in 2022, Chelsea polished him up during a solid loan spell at Strasbourg before flipping him to Old Trafford for a whopping £50m.

Santos was easily one of the most highly-rated starlets in the building, earmarked for a long-term role in West London, which makes handing him over to United a bit of a gamble. But when you pocket a £40m profit on a player who was struggling to displace Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in central midfield, that's a very smart deal.

8. Djordje Petrovic

Signed from MLS side New England Revolution for £12.5m in 2023, Serbian goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic rapidly made a name for himself. When Robert Sanchez hit a rough patch, Petrovic stepped between the sticks, grabbed the No. 1 gloves with both hands, and simply refused to give them back.

However, Maresca reinstated Sanchez upon his arrival in 2024, packing Petrovic off on loan to sister club Strasbourg. One stellar season in France later, Chelsea flipped him to Bournemouth for £25m - doubling their money in the process.

Plenty of Chelsea fans felt Petrovic had done more than enough to stake a permanent claim at Stamford Bridge, but few can argue with how his move to the South Coast turned out. A genuinely shrewd signing that delivered both solid performances and a sweet profit.

7. Noni Madueke

In many ways, Noni Madueke perfectly encapsulates the BlueCo transfer blueprint: signed for a fee slightly above market value (£28m from PSV in 2023), developed in the first team for a couple of seasons, and then flipped for a decent profit.

Madueke never truly set Stamford Bridge alight and always felt like a bit of a "nearly" player, but he popped up with some crucial goals and lively moments on the wing when Chelsea needed them.

When Arsenal came knocking in 2025 with a whopping £52m bid, it was an offer far too good to turn down - especially with Brazilian sensation Estevao arriving to unseat him on the right flank. Madueke may not have hit his ceiling at Stamford Bridge, but he served his purpose well enough, both on the pitch and on the balance sheet.

6. Nicolas Jackson

Nicolas Jackson is the ultimate enigma - quite possibly the best bad player you've ever seen, or the worst good player. It's almost impossible to decide.

Signed from Villarreal for £32m in 2023, the Senegalese striker actually enjoyed a productive debut season, smashing in 17 goals across all competitions. But every crisp finish and electrifying run seemed to be sandwiched between two horror misses. While his hold-up play and work rate deeper on the pitch were beyond critique, a persistent lack of killer instinct in front of goal was the one thing holding him back from world-class status.

After two years of waiting in vain for him to find that missing clinical edge, Chelsea brought in Joao Pedro and shipped Jackson off on loan to Bayern Munich. This summer, they finally cashed in, selling him to Aston Villa for £47.5m in a deal that could rise to £65m. It's another very tidy profit for the Blues, though you can't help but wonder if they'll end up regretting it if he starts hitting those performance add-ons in the Midlands.

5. Malo Gusto

Granted, Malo Gusto hasn't exactly set the world on fire during Chelsea's inverted-fullback era, but he's proven to be a genuinely solid piece of business.

Snapped up from Lyon for £25m in 2023, the Frenchman was initially brought in to shoulder the burden for the perpetually sidelined Reece James. His best form arguably came under Pochettino, where he was given free rein to bomb up and down the touchline and whip dangerous crosses toward the back post.

The subsequent shift to a more rigid system has often seen him tucked inside as a makeshift central midfielder under both Maresca and Xabi Alonso. He has the technical chops to pull it off, even if he looks far more natural tearing down the flank. Either way, his versatility and dependability make him a thoroughly shrewd pickup, even if Chelsea aren't always playing to his absolute strengths.

4. Enzo Fernandez

The manner of his exit might have left a sour taste in the mouth, but Enzo Fernandez was undoubtedly one of the best and most consistent performers of the Boehly era. Signed for a British record £106m from Benfica in January 2023, the Argentine instantly became the poster boy for Chelsea's dizzying post-Abramovich spending spree.

To his credit, he quickly set about backing up the eye-watering price tag, chipping in with goals, assists, and commanding big-game performances. His fiery, instigating character won him legions of fans at Stamford Bridge - though that same agitator mentality would ultimately spell the end of his stint in West London.

When he unsubtly started angling for a move away last season, the writing was on the wall. Fernandez was eventually sold to Manchester City last month for a record-equalling £125m. For Chelsea, it's a shame to see such a talent walk out the door, but turning a profit on a £106m signing is virtually unprecedented. Both on the pitch and on the books, signing Fernandez was a resounding win.

3. Marc Cucurella

It took him a while to get going in Chelsea colours, but Marc Cucurella eventually blossomed into one of the biggest transfer success stories of the Boehly era. The Spaniard arrived from Brighton in a £56m deal - famously snatched right out from under Manchester City's noses.

After a couple of seasons of so-so performances, Cucurella came roaring to life under Maresca, quickly morphing into arguably the best left back in the Premier League, if not Europe. He wasn't just a defensive demon, he became a vital weapon in Chelsea's attack, chipping in with key goals and excelling in his role as an inverted fullback.

When Real Madrid came knocking with a £47m offer, Chelsea reluctantly agreed to sell. Losing him was a bitter pill, and taking a small financial hit hurt the balance sheet, but Cucurella did more than enough to stake his claim as Chelsea's finest left back since Ashley Cole.

2. Moises Caicedo

It takes a special kind of player to make a £115m price tag look entirely justified, let alone someone as young and relatively inexperienced as Moises Caicedo was when he swapped Brighton for Stamford Bridge in 2023.

But the Ecuadorian has done exactly that. He hasn't just brought steel, boundless energy, and world-class quality to Chelsea's midfield; he's actually pulled off the seemingly impossible task of filling N'Golo Kante's legendarily enormous shoes without missing a single beat.

Ask any Chelsea fan, and they'll swear blind that there isn't a single player on the planet better at what he does than Caicedo. Looking at his body of work over the past few years, it's remarkably difficult to argue with them. An absolute colossus of a signing who was genuinely worth every single penny.

1. Cole Palmer

Who else could it possibly be? Not only has Cole Palmer been an absolute revelation since rocking up at Stamford Bridge, but he also stands as the ultimate Boehly-era bargain. Snatched from Manchester City in 2023 for a mere £40m, Palmer almost instantly established himself as one of the finest attacking midfielders on the planet, conjuring magic on the pitch like few others can.

He bagged a frankly ridiculous 22 Premier League goals in his debut campaign, and followed it up with another 18 in all competitions the next season as he fired Chelsea to glory in both the Conference League and the Club World Cup - putting on an absolute masterclass against PSG in the final of the latter.

While his third season was cruelly disrupted by an injury that ultimately cost him a spot at the 2026 World Cup, he still somehow managed to notch 11 goals, which really tells you everything you need to know about the man's undeniable quality.

From a financial standpoint, a pure footballing standpoint and a sheer entertainment standpoint, few Chelsea signings will ever rival the roaring success of Cole Palmer. Best of all? There's hopefully plenty more to come.