Chelsea became a huge spending juggernaut when Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich took over the club in 2003 and Todd Boehly has continued that legacy since assuming control of the club in May 2022.
The American businessman, who is reportedly worth £4.9bn ($6.1bn), as per Forbes, has flexed his financial muscles since arriving at Stamford Bridge, accumulating a staggering £1bn on player expenditure across three transfer windows.
Just as the sums Chelsea have paid are extreme, so has been the youth-driven nature of their recruitment drive over the past two windows, focusing solely on building a talent squad of players aged 23 or under.
Whilst this isn't the route to short-term success, the Blues will hope that the youngsters acquired can help drive them back towards the pinnacle of world football in years to come.
Mauricio Pochettino's side is the youngest in the division with an average age of 23.7 – based on players they've used this term – and that average could have been brought down even further if they hadn't missed out on capturing the best 20-year-old on the planet.
When Chelsea wanted to sign Jude Bellingham
According to former manager Frank Lampard, revealing to former teammate John Obi Mikel on the Obi One Podcast, the Englishman wanted to sign Jude Bellingham while he was at Birmingham City but he was unable to persuade the Chelsea hierarchy to spend £20m on a 16-year-old.
He said: "When I was managing at Chelsea, I was desperate to bring Jude Bellingham in. But I couldn't get it through upstairs…the idea of paying £20m for someone his age".
Having played under-18 football at the age of 14 and made his senior debut for his boyhood club just 38 days after turning 16 in August 2019, Bellingham's world-beating potential was clear from an early age and Lampard seemingly envisaged how good he was going to become.
Unfortunately, not listening to the judgement of a great midfielder himself has gone on to cost the club dearly with the irrepressible star going on to showcase his potential at Dortmund, before Real Madrid made him the most expensive English player in history, shelling out a whopping €134m (£117m) with add-ons, this summer.
While he's become an unstoppable force in Spain, there is no doubt that a move to west London would have seen him eclipse the legacy that Chelsea legend Eden Hazard left behind.
Jude Bellingham's statistics at Real Madrid
In the early stages of his career at Real, the astronomical fee paid for him has already looked like a bargain.
The youngster has already scored an eye-watering 13 goals in 14 appearances for the club, including a sensational winning goal in the El Clasico against Barcelona, and is remarkably performing like a player who is eight or nine years his senior.
That is according to his manager Carlo Ancelotti, who is reaping the rewards of deploying him as a number 10 at the tip of his diamond.
He commented: "What is surprising about Bellingham is that he is only 20. It feels like he's 30.
"For his character, his personality. He is always focused on the match, he knows what he needs to do, and this is rare in a 20-year-old player.
"Then you have all his quality, his physical strength, his skills. It is surprising, we are all a bit surprised."
The Italian isn't the only one taken back by his quality with several lauding the freak of nature as a "generational" talent, including journalist Antonio Mango.
Bellingham – who recently claimed the Kopa Trophy to be named the best U21 player – has the ability to do everything on the pitch. He's a four, eight and ten all rolled into one and it is a scary prospect knowing he's still got at least the decade at the very top.
What's more impressive about his exploits so far in Madrid, he's only nine goals off eclipsing Hazard's best goal tally in a single campaign for Chelsea – (21 in 2018/19) – while Bellingham's record of 16 goal involvements this term is not far off Hazard's total record of 19 goals and assists in 76 games for Los Blancos.
Unlike the latter man, who evidently failed to sparkle at the Bernabeu, the former Birmingham man is relishing the limelight in his new surroundings and is certainly enjoying his newfound, talismanic status with the LaLiga outfit.
If he continues at his current trajectory, the Belgian's goal record won't be the only thing he breaks with the Englishman looking destined to win the Ballon d'Or in the next few years having been shortlisted for the award in 2023.
