Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital need to focus on these areas during the World Cup break

The break in club action through to December 27th due to the World Cup in Qatar will bring Clearlake + Todd Boehly much needed time to continue to settle down as they assess life at Chelsea.

It has been a polarising start to the 2022-2023 season with Thomas Tuchel’s sacking stealing the headlines. Graham Potter to his credit came in and saved us from last in our UEFA Champions league group, finishing 1st after important wins vs AC Milan, Salzburg and Zagreb. 

However, the former Brighton coach has been under massive pressure in the league with shambolic performances against Brighton, Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal just to name a few.

It’s alarming that the performances look glaringly similar to what we saw at the end of the tenure of Thomas Tuchel. Despite these issues, the form we are in and injuries, I still think we need to believe we can finish in the Top 4 of the premier league.

The team will look a lot different once players like Reece James and Wesley Fofana are back and if we can strengthen in the January transfer window our chances could be boosted further.

Looking forward, here is the areas I believe Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital should focus on during the break in club football as we shift towards the future of Chelsea.

Hiring a Sporting Director / DOF

Chelsea’s owners have been actively working on creating a new football structure which will include people like Christopher Vivell, Joe Shields, Kyle McCaulay and others such Laurence Stewart.

I believe these individuals will help us out in the long run, however there is still a missing piece.

There’s rumours that Todd Boehly is happy to continue running things through the winter with the idea that former Liverpool Sporting Director Michael Edwards could take-over after his sabbatical in Summer 2023. While I would personally be in favour of this move as Edwards has shown top expertise during his time at Liverpool, I think it’s important for the owners to get a move on it fast. 

If it’s not going to happen, let’s move onto the next potential candidates & get aggressive in the hiring process, the quicker we get everyone working together and familiar with one another, the faster the rebuild can take place.

Work on a kit sponsorship deal

On the commercial side of things, Chelsea and “Three” are set to part ways in Summer 2023. 

I think it’s safe to say that the club is already looking at new potential ideas, we reported last month that discussions were held with 2 American giants over a deal. 

I think it’s important to see our new deal stack up with the top clubs to benefit us in terms of revenue for FFP etc. The last thing I’ll mention is, more than ever I think it’s important to nail the right company logo. 

I feel like the quality of our kits have diminished. It wouldn’t surprise me if our current kits don’t sell as well as they could because the “Three” logo is underwhelming to say the least, Visual aesthetics make a difference. If it matters to the owners, ask just about any Chelsea fan and they would tell you the same. 

Focus on January Transfers and long term strategy 

Chelsea are in the midst of a rebuild, with new faces on the board arriving as early as January.

It’s natural that at the World Cup there will be breakout players and hidden gems, so it won’t surprise me in the least to see us scouting in Qatar and be active with January in mind. 

It’s understood via various Tier 1 sources that Graham Potter and Todd Boehly will have a meeting soon with the January window sure to be one of the topics near the very top of the list of discussions.

Don’t quote me here, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see us spend anywhere from £50m-£100m. Per Fabrizio Romano the deal for Christopher Nkunku is close to being completed, so I would get that one across the line even if he arrives in Summer 2023 so we can focus on other targets. 

There’s also been buzz surrounding the situation of wonder-kid Endrick so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any more significant movement regarding him soon. 

Fabrizio Romano reported that the top 3 clubs in for Endrick are Real Madrid, Chelsea and PSG. Thiago Silva helped host Endrick’s family at the training facility recently according to Tom Roddy from The Daily Mail and there’s growing optimism that Chelsea could win the race for his signature.

Stamford Bridge renovations

Redeveloping the stadium had been a priority for Roman Abramovich, but due to visa issues + sanctions it never got worked on. Investing in redevelopments of the classic stadium was a prerequisite for any consortium trying to take the keys from Romans beloved club. 

Clearlake and Todd Boehly seem committed to the project, as they went on to bring Jonathan Goldstein into the fray. Goldstein will be very involved in the proces and the Chelsea Director was quoted last month saying that he hopes to have more answers in “12-18 months” for everyone.  

So as we acknowledge there is no real plan in place at this absolute second, I think this is an important moment to lay down just a bit of that groundwork. Chelsea are falling behind in terms of seats in the Premier League so the new plans surely will have us increase to at least the 50K-60K range. 

If I had to bet there will be some renovation talks by the bosses during the World Cup but this is potentially one of least areas of concern as it stands right now.

Analyse Squad data and performance statistics 

Todd Boehly and the hierarchy at Chelsea could use the break for the World Cup to assess the start to our 2022-2023 campaign and see where we as a team place amongst the league in various categories of statistics including Expected goals for and against vs Actual, Set pieces scored/conceded from, the average positions of opposition shots/goals scored and many more.

If Data is truly going to become part of our identity and strategy going forward, it would be very sensible for Potter and Boehly to begin formulating assessments and evaluate individual players at the club. 

In depth Modern data technology can reveal underlying issues in positions and help you start to find answers to questions such as “ is the left back’s sprints up to top level standard?” “how many through balls or attempted passes are being made by the forwards?”  

Can you also find patterns with players’ performance during certain sections of the game etc. 

For this, Todd could reach out to data companies, begin to use the internal resources he has been hiring or could even lean on Chelsea Director Daniel Finkelstein for his expertise in Data analysis.

Revamp medical department and doctors 

New ownership has let go of a lot of the employees that worked for Roman. The medical department is no different, and with the injury crisis we’ve dealt with the past few years it’s somewhat understandable. 

The negative trend has continued this season with Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell just a few of the culprits of multiple week-long injuries. 

Didier Drogba was quoted recently saying that he was upset to see some of the physios go but when you look at the injury records perhaps a new vision is needed. 

Todd Boehly sent Wesley Fofana to the United States last summer before the completion of his signing from Leicester to see highly rated Dr. James Andrew as he checked up on his body following a 223 day long lay off with a Fibula Fracture in 2021. 

That sort of move showed that Todd had new fresh ideas at the early stages of completing the take-over. Now he needs to get an urgent move on and scour the world for the best medical personnel to ensure Chelsea’s first team get the very best care and hopefully avoid these lengthy injuries in the first place.  

Injuries can make or break a season in the worst cases and at the very least break up a teams form which is something that has happened two seasons in a row now with 1 month+ lay offs for potentially Chelsea’s best player, Reece James.

Handle contract situations 

Last but not least, I think this break would be an excellent time to take a closer look at the books at Chelsea. Losing Rudiger and Christensen for free last summer was difficult, it’s an important reminder to stay on top of things so we don’t feel blindsided after. 

Jorginho and N’golo Kante are allowed to talk to other clubs in January so decisions have to be made on them soon. The new owners did a good job extending players like Broja and Reece James to long term deals so I encourage them to stay proactive. 

An important contract situation to monitor is that of Charlie Webster as the highly rated academy player is set to have his contract expire in 2023. 

Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus Cheek also have contracts expiring in 2024 so it’s likely we will get some updates on their situations soon. 

Chelsea fans should be prepared for some potentially ruthless decisions as Todd Boehly, Behdad Egbhali and Graham Potter plan who they want to take forward into the future.