Absolute madness reigns at Xabi Alonso's Chelsea: spending spree, humiliation - and now the wave of departures?

First, one important caveat: the situation for some of the people mentioned in this piece may already have changed between publication and now. Perhaps Nicolas Jackson has been sold, perhaps Pep Chavarria has signed, perhaps someone has gone out on loan, perhaps something else has happened to another footballer connected with Chelsea FC. There are enough of them at the club right now.

Still, this is not really about individual pieces at all. It is about the "overall work of art" Chelsea are putting on these days. Even by their own standards, the London club are producing a pretty wild transfer window. Chelsea are building a squad of historic size, both in terms of numbers and cost.

Since the BlueCo investor group led by Todd Boehly took over in 2022, Chelsea have specialised in mass recruitment of expensive, developable talent. The idea is simple: sign as many talents as possible, hand them the longest contracts possible and then hope their market values rise. Sometimes that worked. Sometimes it did not.

What it has not delivered, above all, is sustained success on the pitch. Chelsea did win the Club World Cup in 2025, but in the Premier League they have finished only 12th, sixth, fourth and 10th since the takeover. Last season, Chelsea burned through two managers in Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior and missed out on qualification for international competition.

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Experienced heads complement Chelsea's selection of talents

Xabi Alonso is now supposed to put things right, and in some ways that fits. Like Chelsea, Alonso once stood for success, but he too comes with a complicated recent past including dismissal at Real Madrid. At Chelsea, Alonso quickly pushed through a strategic adjustment in the transfer market. "We want a squad that has the right balance between quality and mentality," he explained immediately after his arrival.

From Alonso's point of view, all that talent needs more experience around it, and Chelsea moved accordingly. Top target Granit Xhaka (33) was not available. Instead, Chelsea signed two English veterans. Midfielder Jordan Henderson (36) arrived on a free transfer from Brentford FC and striker Danny Welbeck (35) for six million euros from Brighton & Hove Albion.

That desire for experience (or rather "mentality") did not, however, curb the bosses' appetite for developable talents. Chelsea paid 57 million for right-back Marco Palestra (21) from Atalanta Bergamo. They paid 50 million for right winger Geovany Quenda (19) from Sporting Lisbon. They paid 40 million for midfielder Valentin Barco (22) from partner club Racing Strasbourg. And it keeps going, all the way down to 2.4 million for striker Dastan Satpaev (18) from Kairat Almaty.

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Morgan Rogers is the fifth-most expensive player in football history

Then there are the loanees who have come back, including Nicolas Jackson from Bayern Munich and several others who had been parked in Strasbourg. Former great hope Mykhaylo Mudryk recently marked his comeback in a friendly after his almost two-year doping ban expired. And almost as an afterthought, Morgan Rogers arrived from Aston Villa for 138 million euros. The 23-year-old No 10 thereby became the fifth-most expensive transfer in football history.

So far, Chelsea have invested 389 million euros in this transfer window. That is comfortably the highest total of any club in the world, with Tottenham Hotspur well behind in second place. The previous spending record by a club in one transfer window was set by Liverpool last summer with 483 million. Chelsea are likely to break through the 400-million mark before long. Only the announcement is still missing in the 25-million transfer of Pep Chavarria (28, Rayo Vallecano).

Chavarria would be the 17th new player of the summer, while only six have left. Even with income from the sales of, among others, Andrey Santos and Marc Cucurella, Chelsea's transfer balance of minus 227 million is also unmatched worldwide.

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Chelsea FC: 25 players are reportedly allowed to leave

Right now, Chelsea's squad contains 39 players. Even by Premier League standards, that is an extraordinary figure. None of the 39 contracts expires in 2027, and 34 are even valid for at least another three years. Chelsea currently have eight centre-backs, all valued by Transfermarkt at at least ten million euros, seven full-backs, soon eight with Chavarria, and on top of that seven centre-forwards.

Next comes the big clear-out, at least in theory. On Saturday, the English Sun reported that 25 players could in principle leave the club. Among them are returnee Jackson, England striking hope Liam Delap, who is being linked with Aston Villa, Mudryk and former Dortmund loanee Aaron Anselmino. If no buyers emerge, Chelsea can still simply shuttle unwanted players to partner club Strasbourg shortly before the transfer window closes.

Even key players from last season are considered possible sale candidates, provided the offer is right. That includes right winger Pedro Neto and midfield engine Enzo Fernandez, who has already been linked with Real Madrid and Manchester City. If Fernandez goes, Chelsea could step up their efforts for Alonso's alleged preferred player Martin Zubimendi from local rivals Arsenal.

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Chelsea most recently embarrassed themselves against a club from Malaysia

Amid all that uncertainty, Alonso is trying to get his patched-together side ready for the new season, and the results have been mixed at best. A narrow win against the Western Sydney Wanderers was followed by defeats to Tottenham and Juventus. Chelsea then arranged two friendlies in 24 hours over the weekend so as many players as possible could get minutes.

On Saturday, a starting XI with plenty of quality beat AC Milan 3-0. Then on Sunday, a reserve side featuring, among others, Jackson, Estevao and Jamie Gittens embarrassed themselves against Johor DT of Malaysia. Delap converted two penalties and a late own goal salvaged a 3-3 draw. The Sun , known for its wordplay, went with the headline "Alon-so bad", while the Daily Mail called it a "farce".

Chelsea open the new season away at Fulham FC on 24 August. Who will still be in the squad by then, and what the starting XI will look like, currently appears entirely unclear.

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