Chelsea has sent shock waves throughout the world of football with their spending spree this transfer window.
The Blues have splashed out £229 million on six new signings as they look to bridge the gap to reigning champions Liverpool and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Chelsea finished 4th last season and secured the Champions league ticket despite having a transfer ban for two seasons.
This season Chelsea has left no stones upturned by spending enormously one after another on generational talents.
"Not since Jose Mourinho swaggered into Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004 have Chelsea embarked upon such an impressive spending spree." 💰
— Goal News (@GoalNews) September 11, 2020
But such lavish spending is not a new concept at Stamford Bridge and this summer resembles the summer of 2003 when owner Roman Abramovich took over the club.
Chelsea’s Russian owner got his cheque-book out and splurged an amount of £120m on 13 new faces following his arrival in west London.
His massive spending not only transformed the club but dramatically changed the game as a whole. It changed the scene of the picture of England’s transfer market financially.
In the year 2003:
Glen Johnson £6m (West Ham)
Geremi £7m (Real Madrid)
Wayne Bridge £7m (Southampton)
Damien Duff £17m (Blackburn)
Joe Cole £6.6m (West Ham)
Juan Sebastian Veron £15m (Man United)
Adrian Mutu £15.8m (Parma)
Hernan Crespo £16.8m (Inter Milan)
Claude Makelele £16.6m (Real Madrid)
Alexei Smertin £3.5m (Bordeaux)
Neil Sullivan £500,000 (Tottenham)
Jurgen Macho free (Sunderland)
Marco Ambrosio free (Chievo)
TOTAL: £111.8m
Lampard was unable to bring in new arrivals in his first summer at the helm due to a FIFA transfer ban but he introduced young stars into the first team and the Blues finished in the top four last season.
In the Year 2020:
