Since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea FC in 2003, the Russian tycoon has spent more than $1 billion on transfers. Now, Jose Mourinho is accusing other clubs of trying to “buy” the Premier League title.
Interesting take Jose.
Abramovich made a splash by shelling out nearly $200 million on players in his first year at Stamford Bridge, as the Blues went on to win back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004 and 2005.
[ MORE: Latest transfer news ]
Since then, Chelsea has won two more Premier League titles and has “cut back” on spending, while other clubs have followed in Abramovich’s footsteps by spending large to try and win trophies.
This summer, Chelsea has been relatively quiet in the transfer window, bringing in Radamel Falcao on loan and signing Asmir Begovic to be a back-up goalkeeper. With pretty much the exact same team that won the league last year, Jose Mourinho has said that other clubs are trying to buy the title away from the Blues.
Speaking to the press following Chelsea’s win over PSG in the International Champions Cup:We are the same people. Basically we can not say we have lots of new players, we just made some adaptations in our squad. To replace Drogba and Petr Cech, we have Falcao and Begovic.
The squad is the same. Other squads are not the same. They are buying some of the best players in the country, they are buying some of the best players in Europe, so others squads will be very very strong.
So as people told many, many times in the beginning of Mr. Abramovich coming to Chelsea, ‘Chelsea was buying the title,’ now they are buying the title. All of them they are buying the title, and it’s up to us to be strong and to fight them and obviously try to win it again, even without the big investments.
Since Chelsea’s first Premier League title in 2004, England’s top flight has rewarded big spenders. Chelsea has won four titles, Manchester United has won five, and Manchester City two.
[ RELATED: Three things we learned from Chelsea’s win in penalty kicks over Paris-Saint Germain ]
After setting a record for most days spent at the top of the table last season, what changes really needed to be made to Chelsea’s squad? Abramovich may not be spending big on players, but he’s still dishing out the dough for massive penthouses in New York City.
