Liverpool & Chelsea’s Owners Have Big Decisions To Make As Champions League Disappointment Looms

The teams will compete at Anfield on Saturday knowing that a loss would end either team’s chances of finishing in the top four and leave them with significant issues to address.

This match would be the highlight of the Premier League weekend during an average season. In recent years, Liverpool and Chelsea have engaged in some thrilling matches. They have competed in FA Cup and League Cup finals, quarter- and semifinals of the Champions League, and even the European Super Cup.

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Recall Steven Gerrard’s slip, Mohamed Salah’s goal, and pretty much everything else in between? Their league meetings have been tense, tight, and frequently decisive.

This intriguing rivalry’s most recent episode promises to be similarly compelling, albeit for somewhat different reasons. The teams enter the match level on the table, separated only by goal differential, but they are aware that a victory at Anfield on Saturday would only be a temporary fix, a rare respite in a difficult campaign.

These teams, which are currently the ninth and tenth best in the Premier League, would have hoped or anticipated to be in contention for the championship but are instead struggling to finish in the top four.

It is obvious that failing to accomplish that aim would be quite embarrassing, but it is interesting to consider the fundamental distinctions between these two Champions League regulars and their contrasting situations.

One club has recently been taken over, but another is still for sale and has not attracted a full buyer or investor. This season, one team fired its Champions League-winning manager, while another stuck with the man who led them to such dazzling success.

In the transfer market, one team is spending money like it’s going out of style, while the other maintains a patient, economical approach that has historically paid off handsomely but now seems to be undermining efforts to advance.

Only seven and a half months into the Todd Boehly era at Chelsea, but it has already been nothing short of amazing, with the wind of change blowing through Stamford Bridge virtually every day.

More spending is anticipated before the January window closes. Boehly and the Clearlake Capital consortium spent more than £4 billion ($5 billion) to purchase the club last May. Since then, they have spent more than £370 million ($450 million).

Mykhailo Mudryk will make his debut on Saturday after Chelsea defeated Arsenal to sign the intriguing Ukrainian winger from Shakhtar Donetsk. Meanwhile, it appears that the Londoners will soon add another sought-after young attacker to their ranks after a deal to sign England Under-21 international Noni Madueke from PSV Eindhoven was agreed.

Add that to the captures of Joao Felix, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana this month, and to those of Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly, Carney Chukwuemeka, Marc Cucurella and Cesare Casadei in the summer, and you get the picture. This is a club, to coin a hackneyed old footballing phrase, ‘having a right good go’.

It will be interesting to see if it works out for them and Graham Potter, the club’s troubled manager. It’s a risky strategy to spend big money on players like Sterling, Aubameyang, and Koulibaly, whose prime is long gone. On the other hand, the club will lose out on millions of dollars if high-profile acquisitions like Kepa Arrizabalaga, Timo Werner, Romelu Lukaku, Christian Pulisic, and Hakim Ziyech fail to live up to early expectations. It has already.

However, it is fair that Liverpool supporters are envious of what is happening in west London and wondering what would happen if their team, and more significantly, their manager, received a same amount of funding and support.

With less than two weeks left in the transfer window, there is still little indication that Liverpool will make the midfield acquisition that supporters so desperately want and which Jurgen Klopp’s team so obviously needs to follow the Dutch international forward. Instead, Liverpool appears content to wait until the summer to try to land their preferred, long-term targets.

Some people will find it strange, especially after learning that the Reds had surpassed Manchester United in the Deloitte Football Money League last week and moved up to third place with earnings of more than £594 million ($736 million). For many supporters, a key sticking point is how that money is used.

There was a lot of excitement this week as rumours of a possible Qatari-led takeover gained traction online, but they were quickly downplayed by sources close to Fenway Sports Group, who insist that no formal offers have been made for the club and who are now starting to suggest that a partial sale to a “minority partner” remains the most likely result of their extensive search for investment, which was first reported by The Athletic in November.

They must therefore continue to work hard in the meantime, hoping that Liverpool coach can recapture the form that brought his team to the verge of greatness last season, that injured players make a speedy recovery, and that players like Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho, Curtis Jones, and the quickly rising Stefan Bajcetic can live up to their obvious potential.

All very feasible, by the way, but there is no doubt that big personnel changes will be required for the playing roster at Anfield at the end of the season.

Naturally, Klopp will be there to supervise them, since FSG’s confidence in their boss has not been affected by the Reds’ inconsistent season.

How Potter would adore Chelsea receiving the same support. How Jose Mourinho, Thomas Tuchel, and numerous others would have preferred it. At Stamford Bridge, there hasn’t been much fan or boardroom support for the managers over the years.

The Boehly period will determine whether the “hire ’em and fire ’em” mentality of the Roman Abramovich era persists, but it is already evident that Chelsea are willing to take risks under their new American ownership. You may say to speculate in order to accumulate and to incur costly risks in the pursuit of costly success.

Will Liverpool ever be able to accomplish the same thing under FSG is the question. The verdict is still very much out in that aspect, but like Chelsea, the Reds are aware that planning their future from the Champions League will be much simpler. They can be set back years if they miss out.