Chelsea made fairly light work of Swedish club Djurgarden in the first leg of their European semi-final clash.
The Blues recorded an emphatic 4-1 victory over Djurgarden on Thursday night in the Conference League. As a result, they’re strong favourites to finish the job in next week’s second leg, which will put them into the final against either Real Betis or Fiorentina.
It was certainly a tough fixture for the Swedish team to compete in, especially when you factor in the size of both clubs.
Djurgarden left-back Keita Kosugi admits he couldn’t get close to Noni Madueke in the European tie.
Sportbladet, the Swedish publication, appeared to take a swipe at Chelsea’s ownership and their huge financial advantage over Djurgaren after the Conference League contest.
Following Thursday’s result, they wrote: “Chelsea waved Djurgarden away like nothing, but let’s talk advertising language.
“Owning players who can decide a semi-final in Europe: 13 billion kronor.
“Owning your own club: Priceless.”
In fairness, any Premier League team competing in the Conference League is going to financially bully most opposition sides.
Remarkably, Chelsea flop Raheem Sterling earns more than the entire Djurgarden squad. It puts into perspective how well the Swedish club have done in this season’s European competition.
As for Chelsea’s owners, they continue to inject so much cash into the football club in search of success. At the moment, they’re yet to get the reward with trophies for all the investment, but patience is required because of the transfer strategy of signing so many young stars for the future.
It’s been reported that Chelsea could ‘spend big’ in the summer on recruiting for three key positions.
The senior Chelsea chiefs who are key in transfer business
It’s previously been reported that three senior Chelsea figures must sign off on big decisions, including any transfer activity. The trio of Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano are the Blues chiefs who give their seal of approval.
While Blues supporters can’t complain much about the ownership’s ambition, it’s quite clear they’ve made numerous slip-ups already as they learn on the job.
In terms of the club’s recruitment, we’d love to see the sporting directors find a right balance between youth and experience because the squid building has been questionable.
Enzo Maresca has the support of Chelsea’s owners despite the fact the season hangs in the balance still. Let’s wait and see if all the financial muscle can get the Blues back to where they want to be on the top table of club football.
