Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has called for patience from fans amid a horrific season that sees the Blues far closer to relegation than the top four.
Boehly’s first season in charge has been a disaster, with Chelsea in 12th place and currently in the midst of a six-game losing streak under caretaker manager Frank Lampard.
There’s even still a faint possibility that Chelsea, the 2020-21 Champions League winners, could get sucked into a relegation battle.
That has all happened despite Chelsea spending more than £600 million in the transfer market, bringing in Enzo Fernández, Benoît Badiashile, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and João Félix among others.
Speaking at the Milken Institute in Beverly Hills, Boehly tried to strike a note of optimism during a dark time for the club.
“The fans are demanding. They want to win. We get that. We want to win,” Boehly said. “Our view, though, was that this is a long-term project and we are committed to the long-term and we very much believe that we are going to figure it out.
“We have got the best league in the world, what I think is the top city in the world and we have an unbelievable location in the top city in the world.”
Boehly admitted that he was forced to learn on the fly early in the season when he was initially acting as Chelsea’s interim sporting director.
“It is such a global sport and, unlike in the U.S., there are no unions, so there is a market for top players in every country in the world,” said Boehly. “And each one of those markets is different. You have got the Portuguese market, the French market, the English market, so [you have] the ability to go to these markets.
“Then of course, obviously, you have to build a team and your coach is the conductor of the team. I think there is a lot that we have learned about the different markets and the global aspect of it all.”
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