Chelsea co-owner Eghbali admits transfer policy is flawed: ‘You learn from mistakes’

Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali has backed under-pressure boss Liam Rosenior and admitted the club’s current transfer model of signing potential rather than proven players needs a “tweak”.

The West London club are sixth in the Premier League table ahead of tomorrow’s game against Manchester United with both teams fighting to secure one of the top-five positions that would bring Champions League football next season.

It has been a mixed season for Chelsea, whose decision to dismiss Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day and replace him with Rosenior has yet to bear fruit.

Nevertheless, Eghbali, the co-founder of Clearlake Capital, who head the consortium that owns Chelsea alongside Todd Boehly, is adamant the 41-year-old will prove a shrewd appointment in time.

Speaking at CAA’s World Congress of Sports conference in Los Angeles, he said: “Our policy has been no in-season changes. You certainly review and hold not only the manager, but the management team, the sporting team, accountable, but typically in the summers, not in season.

“It’s not a change we wanted to make. It’s a change that had a bit of a negative impact in the season, when you’re changing systems and personnel, and it’s one we’ve got to fight our way out of.

“On Liam, we had the opportunity to work with him daily for 18 plus months, so we knew what we were getting. We think he has every attribute to be successful here. He got off to a great start. We’ve had a tough past five, six matches, but I think we’re behind Liam. Of course, it’s a results business, but we think he can be successful long term.”

We’ve got to be better on a few things – Chelsea chief Eghbali

Chelsea’s recent recruitment has concentrated on acquiring young players, such as Jamie Gittens, Alejandro Garnacho, Jorrel Hato, Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Willian Estevao.

The likes of Estevao and Pedro appear shrewd investments but Eghbali admits the policy needs amending to ensure the squad has enough experience to compete.

He added: “The view was to recruit and build elite players that can, frankly, be together and have that stability in the squad. We’re still in the 40th, 50th minute of that process. But the view is to keep, sign and retain and compensate and extend some of the world’s best players, and ultimately the view was you need, eight, 10, 12, 15 elite players to win and win sustainably, year after year.

“I think we’ve done a few things right, a lot of things right. We’ve got to be better on a few things, to add more ready-made players at this part of the project, to take (it ) to the next level, to be consistent over time.”

‘Chelsea squad needs balance’

Eghbali hinted Chelsea would target more experienced players this summer.

“We recognise we need balance,” he said. “We have world champions, we have Champions League winners, we have elite, elite young players. Experience has developed now. The team has been together for two or three years. The objective is to keep your best players, and we’ve done that, and there’s no intention to rebuild every three or four years. You tweak a model, you improve, you learn from mistakes.

“Our goal is to have elite, elite players on the pitch, elite characters off the pitch that our fans can bond with, that will be at the club, that will be club legends for the next 10 or 15 years and beyond. I think, generally, we’ve been fortunate, not in getting everything right, but we do have a core (of) good players, global players. Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Levi Colwill, Estevao Willian, Reece James.

“The view is now that we’re here with a great core base, to add some of that experience, to take the team to the next level and have consistency. That fact is not lost on us, and we’re at a point where we can take that next step, hopefully in the next year and beyond.”