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Former Chelsea youth academy forward Milan Lalkovic has hit back at the Blues' doubters after the club capped off a record January transfer window following Enzo Fernandez's arrival from SL Benfica.
The Blues signed the midfielder for a British record fee of £107 million, taking their total expenditure in January to £288 million. No English club has ever spent more than that in the winter.
Since Todd Boehly's consortium became the club's new owner in May, the Stamford Bridge outfit have spent £558 million in two transfer windows. Even the most optimistic Blues fan would have struggled to envisage a situation like this when the club were put up for sale in March.
The UK government froze Russian billionaire and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's assets in the country last year on suspicion of ties with the Kremlin. He gave up ownership of the Blues and put the club up for sale in March.
There were doubts about what was in store for the club, who climbed to the pinnacle of English football on the back of Abramovich's spending since 2003. It is safe to say that Boehly and co. have not let fans feel their former owner's absence at the helm.
Lalkovic, who was on the west London giants' books from 2007 to 2014, took a potshot at a report from the Sun. The front page of the newspaper questioned the club's future after Abramovich and Chelsea were sanctioned in March.
Quoting the photo tweeted by another Blues fan, Lalkovic, who currently plays in the Greek second division with Makedonikos, tweeted:
"Back with a bang hahahah🔵 let them cry."
Chelsea told they are spending like 'drunken sailors' by former PL club chairman
Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has claimed that Chelsea are spending like 'drunken sailors' after back-to-back money-laden transfer windows.
Apart from Enzo Fernandez, the club signed Joao Felix (loan), Malo Gusto, Mykhaylo Mudryk, David Datro Fofana, Andrey Santos, Noni Madueke, and Benoit Badiashile in January. Gusto has been loaned back to Olympique Lyonnais for the remainder of the season.
Commenting on the Blues' spending under Todd Boehly's ownership, Jordan, who was Palace's chairman from 2000 to 2010, told talkSPORT (h/t Daily Mail):
"The top six clubs, which Chelsea aren't but in their minds they are... and they're certainly spending like one, they're spending like drunken sailors! Chelsea will have accounted for, in these two transfer markets, nearly 25% of the entire spend in this country!"
Manager Graham Potter will hope the new arrivals can steer his team to a positive finish in the league this season, where they sit 10th after 20 matches.
