Bold Boehly winning friends at the Bridge

THE RETURN of Antonio Conte to Stamford Bridge will evoke memories of the days when Chelsea ruled English football. Conte was the last manager to lead Chelsea to Premier League glory in 2017. There have been trophies at home and abroad since but the biggest domestic honour eluded them in the final Roman Abramovich years as Manchester City and Liverpool dominated.

Reeling in the top two is now a task for the new consortium, led by Todd Boehly, who own the club. If the LA Dodgers part-owner fails to achieve that, his first two-and-a -half months at the helm suggest it will not be for the want of trying.

Chelsea have already spent around £175million on five players, including three marquee additions in Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella.

That figure will surpass £300m if other targets such as Leicester’s Wesley Fofana and Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong arrive. The club also want a striker, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of interest,est, and a right back.

Should Chelsea do all the business they want nt they will comfortably y spend more in the first window of the new era than they did in any during Abramovich’s 19- year reign, his s highest being £220m m two years ago.

This window has been een far from plain sailing,, with the likes of Raphinha,, Nathan Ake, Matthijs de LiLigtt andd JJules l Kounde proving out of reach. But you cannot fault Boehly’s determination to make Chelsea title challengers again or the effort being put in by him and co-owner Behdad Eghbali.

‘New ownership, stepping in the transfer market is one of the toughest things you can do,’ said head coach Thomas Tuchel. ‘I have nothing but the biggest respect and compliments for both Todd and Behdad.

‘I don’t know when they sleep, maybe never. Both of the owners involved in the daily business have done fantastic jobs so far. The transfer market speaks for itself.’

During the takeover process and especially since its completion in May the spotlight has fallen on Boehly ( above), the American billionaire who has emerged as the face of the new Chelsea regime.

Some who have been dealing with Chelsea in this window have been left with the impression their summer budget is burning a hole in his pocket. But the early sense is that if Boehly wants something, he will make it happen.

For example, as Cucurella’s price tag continued to rise above Brighton’s initial £50m valuation, Boehly did not baulk. The final sum was up to £62m — and that could be bad news for Leicester if Boehly decides he will also not be deterred by their £85m asking price for Fofana.

The initial plan was that Tuchel would be left to coach and transfers would be overseen by Marina Granovskaia, chairman Bruce Buck and technical and performance advisor Petr Cech before Boehly and Co fully took up the reins.

But all three left at the end of June so Boehly is now calling the shots, not just as co- owner but as chairman and interim sporting director too. There have been concerns about the workload the 48-year-old has taken on but he has thrown himself into the task.

Boehly has cast an eye over all manner of departments at the club and has quickly gained an understanding of Chelsea’s identity and the importance of their academy. He has struck up close relationships with head of youth development Neil Bath and assistant Jim Fraser, recognising their value and that of homegrown products such as Mason Mount and Reece James, who he is determined to reward with new contracts.

He has taken a keen interest in the corporate and hospitality areas and is said to have big plans commercially. Boehly wants to improve the club’s training ground and stadium too.

But transfers are the most pressing matter. Boehly is learning on the job, as Tuchel admitted whenhe dismissing Gary Neville’s claim that Chelsea’s approach under the American has been ‘panicky’.

There was nothing panicky about Boehly stepping in to find a resolution to the Romelu Lukaku situation, agreeing a loan deal with Inter Milan worth around £10m but at a considerable loss, a year after signing him for £97.5m.

Tuchel would have preferred Chelsea to bring someone in first and has since seen Timo Werner sold back to RB Leipzig too, leaving him, for the time being, short of bodies in attack.

Boehly, to his credit, does not pretend he knows everything. He is quickly building relationships with clubs, agents and key personnel, tapping into the right people with greater knowledge to fill his gaps and using data to support his decisions. He is as interested in the person as much as the player.

Tom Glick was appointed as Chelsea’s new president of business last month to deal with the day-to-day running of the club and further support will be on the way, with Chelsea talking to prospective candidates for the sporting director position.

Whether this extravagant window of spending becomes the norm remains to be seen. Some suspect it will not. But Boehly’s intention and aims are not in doubt.