Roman Abramovich will no longer own Chelsea. Days after stepping aside and handing over power to the foundation of the London club, the Russian tycoon has made his intention to sell the entity official as a result of the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Abramovich has been at Chelsea for 19 years and since his arrival he has not hesitated to strengthen the team at the stroke of a checkbook. As soon as he landed at Stamford Bridge in June 2003, he began his work to try to win the Premier League and the Champions League.
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In his first summer he made ten signings, with Hernán Crespo being the most prominent. He paid just over 25 million euros for the Argentine and with him also joined the ‘blue’ squad Damien Duff (24.5 ‘kilos), Juan Sebastián Veron (21.8), Claude Makélélé (20), Adrian Mutu ( 19), Wayne Bridge (10.5), Njitap Geremi (10), Joe Cole (9.9), Glen Johnson (8.3), and Aleksey Smetin (5.5).
Little by little he was investing more and more in Chelsea, although it has been in these last markets where he has made the most expensive signings since he owns the club.
Kepa, Morata and Torres, among the ‘top 10’
The ‘icing’ on Abramovich’s plan came last summer. The Russian tycoon took out his wallet to complete the most expensive transfer in the club’s history and the second most expensive registered in the Premier. It was 115 million euros that Chelsea paid to sign Romelu Lukaku from Inter.
They are followed by Kai Havertz (80 million) and Kepa Arrizabalaga (80), the first Spaniard among the ten most expensive footballers of the ‘Abramovich era’. Something less, 66 ‘kilos’ he paid to sign Álvaro Morata in 2017, two more than what Christian Pulisic cost (64).
Next come Fernando Torres, with 58.5 million, Jorginho (57), Timo Werner (53), Ben Chilwell (50.2) and Mateo Kovacic (45).
Abramovich’s 10 most expensive signings:
- Romelu Lukaku (Inter) 115M
- Kai Havertz (Leverkusen) 80M
- Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic) 80M
- Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid) 66
- Christian Pulisic (Dortmund) 64M
- Fernando Torres (Liverpool) 58,5M
- Jorginho (Naples) 57M
- Timo Werner (Leipzig) 53M
- Ben Chilwell (Leicester) 50,2M
- Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid) 45M