With Roman Abramovich no longer at the helm of the club, Chelsea have left behind some tumultuous months. In the wake of the Ukraine invasion, the former club owner's assets had been frozen due to his ties with Vladimir Putin, which took a toll on The Blues last season.
Fortunately, they got off to a fresh start with the Todd Boehly-led consortium acquiring the club a few months ago. It didn't take long for Chelsea to notice the new ownership's contribution, as they were able to pull off the signings of Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.
However, the financial boost received by the new owners has not been attractive enough for all their targets. Just like Robert Lewandowski, who chose Barcelona over any other club, many stars preferred to join other teams over The Blues.
Robert Lewandowski
The Pole striker forced his way out of Bayern, where he had only one year left under contract. Despite interest from the Premier League outfit, Lewy preferred Barca. "We have competed with teams like PSG and Chelsea to sign Robert and he wanted to come here. thank him. That and the maximum pressure he has had to endure," Barcelona president Joan Laporta said about signing Lewandowski.
Raphinha
Lewandowski was not the only target Barcelona snatched out from under Chelsea's nose, though. The Blues were also heavily linked with Raphinha, but the Brazilian opted to leave Leeds United for the La Liga giants.
Matthijs de Ligt
With Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen gone, Thomas Tuchel saw in Juventus outcast Matthijs de Ligt a great target to boost his defense. Unfortunately, Bayern Munich got in their way and ended up acquiring the services of the Dutch defender.
Nordi Mukiele
Chelsea received another blow when Nordi Mukiele turned them down in favor of Paris Saint-Germain. The former RB Leipzig center-back was seen as an alternative to improve The Blues' defense, yet he ended up joining PSG in a $13.20 million deal.
