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Have Chelsea suffered from 'epic mismanagement'?

Chelsea’s underachievement this season has been highlighted by a financial analysis that says only Wolverhampton Wanderers have performed worse in the Premier League compared to money splashed out by the top flight’s biggest spenders.  One Chelsea fan described it as ‘epic mismanagement.’

Despite spending £637 million on wages, transfers and agents fees, Chelsea finished tenth — 33 points behind champions Arsenal — and missed out on the European places.

Sunderland’s achievement in qualifying for the Europa League spot secured them billing as the best value for money along with Arsenal, followed by Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion. After Wolves and Chelsea, Burnley were the next worst-performing, followed by Tottenham Hotspur.

Omar Chaudhuri, the chief intelligence officer at the sports intelligence agency Twenty First Group, which carried out the analysis for The Times, said: “Chelsea are in the top two spenders but have failed to qualify for the Champions League. In the four full seasons under their existing ownership, the club has underachieved by more than 80 points in that time.”

Chaudhuri added: “Sunderland are among, if not the lowest spenders this season, which would typically expect to deliver well under 40 points. A return of 54 points is a major achievement.

“Arsenal, meanwhile, are league champions despite being only the fourth-highest spenders in 2024-25, overperforming by a similar amount to Sunderland.  This is the fifth consecutive year of overachievement for Arsenal, reflecting a mix of shrewd recruitment, utilisation of academy players (who have no amortisation charge) and outstanding coaching over this period.”

Chaudhuri called Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton “serial overachievers” while Wolves’ 20 points represented “an enormous underachievement” given they were mid-table in terms of spending.

He added that Spurs’ spending has dropped to seventh in the Premier League. “So while they should never have been in a relegation scrap, the idea that their spending should have guaranteed a Champions League push isn’t quite true”.

The Europa League winners Aston Villa also overachieved, though the analysis only covers points won in the Premier League and not any success in Europe — and the same applies to Crystal Palace, who are in the Conference League final.

 

 

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