Chelsea under the Boehly's : The ineffectiveness of the aftermath of opulent desire raises alarm in early days

Chelsea have spent well over £350 million since the Todd Boehly takeover in May despite it not been up to two full transfer windows since then, but the Chelsea's seemingly unchanged starting XI is a worry going forward.

The players, a few of them big names have not been able to replicate the form or fitness that made them daring to Blues fans upon their arrival at the club few months back.

Raheem Sterling, who joined from Manchester City as the marquee signing to kickoff the new era seems to be the only fresh leg added to the squad that consistently show up in the starting XI for games.

Even the English winger hasn't been at his best but he is still able to get selected ahead of others because of the obvious dip in quality in the depth available at the club.

Marc Cucurella is also getting minutes but coming in the left-back position, where they also have Ben Chilwell, it appeared at a time that the English fullback was already displacing the former Brighton man but for injuries, Cucurella's place is secured for now.

Wesley Fofana is another big money move and even if there is no question about the abilities of the Frenchman defender, though not many agreed he is worth the price tag splashed on him by the club, injuries has limited his impact earlier on.

The former Leicester City defender is still nursing an injury, which is expected to keep him out of action until the new year. Fofana is still young and has his future ahead of him but continuous injuries will neither help him nor Chelsea and albeit it is unfortunate, it is no excuse to cover Chelsea's transfer flaws.

Kalidou Koulibaly has had a mixed start to his Chelsea career having struggled to maintain consistency. He is being dropped because of his unreliability and a 38year old Thiago Silva gets to play more and more games.

With his profile and the expectations of him after signing from Napoli in the summer, not many would have predicted that the African Cup of Nations winning captain with Senegal will struggle to consistently get selected as a starter for the London club.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hasn't at all being convincing. The Gabonese former Arsenal captain left the Premier League on sour note after falling out with Mikel Arteta but was able to get his career back on track in Barcelona.

His return to London with Chelsea has so far not go as planned. With Chelsea desperate to bring in a striker before the end of the summer window, it now appears that the decision to sign Aubameyang is wrong as the striker can only manage just a goal in seven league games.

This has seen him being dropped to the bench, adding to an already growing list of new signings failing to make impact at the club.

Denis Zakaria was only able to get his first Premier League appearance in the win over Bournemouth on Tuesday night having been on the books arriving on season long loan from Juventus on the final day of the summer transfer window.

One can easily conclude he was given the nod due to the absence of Mateo Kovacic, who at the time is yet to resume back to training following his extended break due to involvement with Croatia in the FIFA World Cup.

It was also in the absence of the injured Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who would have been selected ahead of Zakaria as evident before the World Cup break. To think that Chelsea signed a midfielder to be below Loftus-Cheek in the pecking order is actually worrying.

Of course, it is a positive to see one of your own grow into becoming an important figure at senior level in the same club where they were nurtured but the performance of the Englishman hasn't been satisfying enough to warrant a stay at Chelsea and a new signing not displacing him is poor scouting.

A lot has also been invested on youngsters as the club plans for the future according to Todd Boehly. Carney Chukwuemeka, Gabriel Slonina, David Datro Fofana, Cesare Casadei and Andre Santos have all joined for combined notable fees while Omari Hutchinson joined for free after seeing out his time with the Arsenal Academy.

The future is stacked as per the talents that have been captured but the present seems scanty, and this will be issues the club will have to address as early as the winter transfer window, which officially opens in the next few days.

It is ridiculous to spend over £350 million as still have an unchanged starting XI. Are the long serving players that good ? Well, Chelsea's current position on the log does not agree with this so the loopholes has to be fixed in time.

The Blues ended a run of three winless in the league with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Bournemouth last time out and travel to Nottingham Forest on new year's eve for their next one.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi