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Rarely does Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali speak in the public domain but he did on Thursday evening, where he spoke about the club's transfer plans and much more
Behdad Eghbali has revealed Chelsea are looking to sign "ready-made" players in this summer's transfer window, with the Blues co-owner confirming the slight shift in BlueCo's transfer strategy.
Since the consortium, formed by Eghbali's Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly, bought the Blues in 2022 from Roman Abramovich, the transfer model has mainly been youth-focused. However, as reported by football.london earlier this month, Chelsea are now on the hunt for Premier League proven players, while still keeping an eye on the world's most promising young talent.
Eghbali believes, to take the project to the "next level", Chelsea must now target more experienced players. Speaking at the CAA's World Congress of Sports conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, the Blues co-owner said: "The view was to recruit and build elite players that can, frankly, be together and have that stability in the squad. We're still in the 40th, 50th minute of that process.
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"But the view is to keep, sign and retain and compensate and extend some of the world's best players, and ultimately the view was you need, eight, 10, 12, 15 elite players to win and win sustainably, year after year.
"I think we've done a few things right, a lot of things right. We've got to be better on a few things, to add more ready-made players at this part of the project, to take it to the next level, to be consistent over time."
Eghbali was also asked about Enzo Maresca's departure on New Year's Day. Maresca left Stamford Bridge after a fallout with the club's hierarchy, and Eghbali has now insisted it was a change the Blues did not want to make.
"Our policy has been no in-season [head coach] changes," said Eghbali. "You certainly review and hold not only the manager, but the management team, the sporting team, accountable, but typically in the summers, not in season.
"It's not a change we wanted to make. It's a change that had a bit of a negative impact in the season, when you're changing systems and personnel, and it's one we've got to fight our way out of.
"We still have six matches in the Premier League, and an FA Cup semi-final coming up. So, hopefully the story of this season hasn't been written yet, and you've got a lot to fight for. In my perspective, when you get punched in the face, you've got to fight back, you've got to stand up and fight. And it's going to hopefully show a lot about the character of this squad.
"I think the perspective is stability, and frankly, getting that stability on the manager side is one of the things we haven't done right yet, and it's something we're striving to improve on."
Eghbali went on to back Rosenior: "On Liam, we had the opportunity to work with him daily for 18-plus months, so we knew what we were getting.
"We think he has every attribute to be successful here. He got off to a great start. We've had a tough five, six matches, but I think we're behind Liam. Of course, it's a results business, but we think he can be successful [in the] long term."
Chelsea supporters are planning to protest against the club's ownership ahead of Saturday evening's Premier League clash with Manchester United. A group of fans are set to meet up with some Strasbourg supporters to demonstrate against BlueCo outside of Stamford Bridge.
Eghbali insisted BlueCo are always looking to improve how they run things: "For the fans, we care. We want the club to be successful. We're focused on delivering that on-pitch performance.
"I think six months ago, everyone was super-happy. Results have been mixed, disappointing more recently. There's a full reflection on what we can do better, what we can improve on. There is a plan. We reflect on the plan. We try to improve the plan and tweak the plan if it's not working. The message is: we're committed.
"Can this be successful without winning? The answer is no. We've got to win. And it doesn't mean you're going to win every game, it doesn't mean you don't make mistakes, that you don't have downturns, but ultimately the objective, and especially the objective that a club like Chelsea is, you've got to win, you've got to win trophies, and you've got to win consistently again.
"We were fortunate enough to do so last year. We've had a bit of an up and down year this year, but the objective hasn't changed."
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