We all have our moments. For me, it was probably when Chelsea signed Mykhaylo Mudryk for a fee that could reach €100 million ($108m) from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.
I'd just written an article outlining how Chelsea's new ownership group -- Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital -- had signed 12 new players over the previous six months. It was an absurd overhaul that saw one of the best teams in Europe suddenly drop to the bottom half of the Premier League. They couldn't keep going on like this, could they?
After the piece was published, Chelsea beat Arsenal to the signing of Mudryk, a 22-year-old winger with limited high-level professional experience whose transfer fee was an initial €70m with €30m add-ons. OK, fine. One more. Now you're done ... right ... guys?
Later that month, in came Enzo Fernández from Benfica for €121m -- the fifth-biggest transfer fee, for a player who had only moved to Benfica from River Plate for around €12m just six months previous. That wasn't it, either. Since Enzo, Chelsea have added nine players officially -- with Southampton's Romeo Lavia (€62m) the latest to be added to the list.
If you've been following the transfer market, then you've no doubt had the experience at some point, too: you see another new Chelsea signing, you think to yourself, Fine, this is ridiculous, but this has to be the last one, and then they go out and sign four or five or six more super-expensive players.
This, of course, raises a question that seemingly just about everyone outside of West London is wondering. How the heck do they keep getting away with this? Aren't there, you know, rules?
