Why Chelsea are signing so many young players despite major issues in first team

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Chelsea's young signings

Roman Abramovich's tenure at Chelsea was marked by robust achievements. The Russian oligarch sold the club, having won all the available trophies to him.

Abramovich's preferred method, though divisive, was 'fire and hire' on the spot - as soon as a manager showed a slight dip in form, he was gone, and it didn't matter if they were as celebrated as Jose Mourinho or Carlo Ancelotti.

But with Todd Boehly, one of the current co-controlling owners, came the term, which is often referred to as 'trusting the process.' The American vouched for the embattled Graham Potter before push came to shove and the former Brighton boss had to go.

Mauricio Pochettino has since been brought in and if the preseason results are anything to go by, Chelsea fans can look forward to the new season with renewed hope.

However, there has been a mass exodus of players from Stamford Bridge. The club still lacks proper options in some key areas, like in defensive midfield, with Moises Caicedo's deal stalling.

Chelsea's new arrivals

As soon as the takeover was complete last summer, Boehly completed moves for Carney Chukwuemeka (Aston Villa), Gabriel Slonina (Chicago Fire), Cesare Casadei (Inter Milan) and Omari-Giraud Hutchinson (Arsenal).

They have since added David Datro Fofana (Molde), Benoit Badiashile (Monaco) and Andrey Santos from Brazil club Vasco da Gama. This transfer window has seen the arrival of more players, Lesley Ugochukwu(Rennes), Diego Moreira(Benfica), and Angelo Gabriel(Santos), with a deal for David Washington also understandably close.

So, what's Boehly's plan? Why spend a lot of money on getting stars for the future when the main team has some urgent problems that need to be addressed?

To Boehly's credit, he splashed huge sums of cash to land Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kalidou Koulibaly in his first major transfer window. Nicholas Jackson, Alex Disasi, Robert Sanchez and Christopher Nkunku have since been added.

Save for Koulibaly, Chelsea didn't need the profiles of the other players signed, but that is a discussion for another day. That explains why a couple have already left. And Cucurella for 62 million euros? Come on - Christmas came early for Brighton.