What's gone wrong at Chelsea since spending millions on Brighton's best players and staff

The Argentinian coach was appointed Blues boss in the summer and has so far overseen a disastrous start to his tenure, winning just one of his first six Premier League games.

The latest defeat saw the West London outfit beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, leaving the club 14th in the table, 13 points off first-placed Manchester City.

Many at the club had hoped the dismal form of last year, in which they achieved their lowest top flight finish in 29 years and won just 11 league games, would be eradicated following the appointment of Pochettino.

Similar to last summer, the club’s boardroom invested heavily into the playing squad, signing a further 12 players for more than £400m, taking owner Todd Boehly’s total spending to over £1bn since taking control of the club in May 2022.

However, results on the pitch are still yet to change, and the same old problems are continuing to come up time and time again.

While this current squad may be full of talent and potential. It lacks a core of experienced, high-level pros and more importantly, a proven goal-scorer.

So far this campaign, Pochettino’s side have scored just five goals, three of which came in one game, with only Burnley and Luton scoring less.

Only six members of the first-team squad have been at the club longer then two years, three of whom were part of the youth team setup in 2020 (Ian Maatsen, Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja).

It leaves Pochettino with a soulless group of multi-million strangers, uncomfortable playing together, lacking the unity and togetherness found at many successful clubs.

It is hard to point the finger at the current Chelsea gaffer. His track record of building good footballing sides from a core of young players is there for all to see.

The ex-Tottenham boss has stressed that his work is part of a ‘long-term’ project. It will have to be, as the club’s chaotic transfer approach is far from a quick-fix solution. But it does raise the question as to whether Chelsea are any better off for sacking Graham Potter last term?

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The former Brighton boss was promised a similar proposal to Pochettino when he took the Stamford Bridge hot seat in September 2022 – Build a team in your image, using the players you want and need, doing so over the course of a number of seasons.

In his chaotic eight month tenure, Potter found similar issues to that of Pochettino, a lack of goals and team cohesion. But instead of learning from their mistakes in the transfer market when appointing Potter’s successor, it seems the board are continuing on as they were and, as expected, are paying the price for this on the pitch, as well as on their balance sheets.

On Wednesday, Chelsea face the club they are seemingly desperate to imitate, in a game which is already a must win for the Blues. Brighton’s intricate, eye-catching football is flourishing under the management of Roberto De Zerbi, but is supported by the solid foundation laid out over many years by Tony Bloom, Paul Barber and David Weir.

Whilst the vision and ideas may be there with Pochettino, the support structure is not. It does not matter how many multi-million pound players Boehly's ownership throws into the machine, until the football operation is running smoothly, Chelsea will continue to struggle in the bottem half of the Premier League table.