The 2020-2021 season was a particularly successful one for Chelsea, ending up as champions of Europe thanks to the club’s defeat of Manchester City in the Champions League Final. The Blues also came close to doing a double, losing out on the FA Cup to Leicester City. The fact that they also finished fourth in the Champions League contributed to what can be considered an excellent season; a fact which is made even more impressive when you consider that former player Frank Lampard was the manager at the start of the season, only to be replaced by Thomas Tuchel in January after Lampard was sacked for poor results.
It was the Champions League win that truly cemented Chelsea’s place on the global stage, however. The final took place at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, with the London club emerging top of a group containing Sevilla, Krasnodar and Rennes before knocking out Atlético Madrid in the round of 16, Porto in the quarter-finals and Real Madrid in the semi-final. The final saw them defeat English Champions Manchester City thanks to a goal from Kai Havertz in a 1-0 win. In the FA Cup, meanwhile, Chelsea beat Morecambe 4-0 in the third round, Luton Town in the fourth round and Barnsley in the fifth round.
A 2-0 win over Sheffield United in the quarter-finals set up a semi-final match against Manchester City, with the result being something of a forecast of what would happen in the Champions League, with Chelsea winning 1-0. That meant a final against former Chelsea employee Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City in the final, with the Foxes winning 1-0 thanks to a Youri Tielemans goal. It was the first session since the 2012-2013 campaign that the London club had to cope without the services of Willian, who left for the other side of the city when he signed for Arsenal. Most of the season was played behind-closed-doors because of the global health situation at the time.
Transfers
There were a few big name arrivals for Chelsea in the summer of 2020, with large payouts for Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz, as well as new goalkeeper Édouard Mendy being brought in from Rennes. There were a number of departures, but none were more keenly felt than that of the loyal servant Willian. The movement was largely thanks to the fact that the club’s transfer ban had been served over the previous two windows.
Transfers In
Here is a look at all of the players that Chelsea signed in the summer of 2020 and winter of 2021, complete with the club that they were signed from and the amount that was paid, if known:
| Player | Signed From | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Edwin Andersson | IFK Götenborg | £40,000 |
| Malik Mothersille | Leyton Orient | Free Transfer |
| Hakim Ziyech | Ajax | £36 milion |
| Jimi Taurianen | HJK | Undisclosed Amount |
| Timo Werner | RB Leipzig | £47.7 million |
| Xavier Mbuyamba | Barcelona | Free Transfer |
| Ben Chilwell | Leicester City | £45.18 million |
| Malang Sarr | Nice | Free Transfer |
| Thiago Silva | Paris Saint-Germain | Free Transfer |
| Kai Havertz | Bayern Leverkusen | £72 million |
| Teddy Sharman-Lowe | Burton Albion | Undisclosed Amount |
| Édouard Mendy | Rennes | £21.6 million |
| Aleksi Heino | Inter Turku | Undisclosed Amount |
| Sami Tiemcani | Paris FC | Undisclosed Amount |
| Declan Frith | Unattached | Free Transfer |
The club spent in the region of £220 million bringing in the players, obviously not taking into account the wages paid.
Transfers Out
Having spent such a huge amount of money on the incomings, Chelsea needed to try to get rid of some players in order to recoup what they could. Here is a look at the club’s outgoings across the summer and winter transfer windows:
| Player | Sold To | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Nathan | Atlético Mineiro | £2.7 million |
| Josh Clarke | Bournemouth | Free Transfer |
| Adrian Akande | Swansea City | Free Transfer |
| Josh Grant | Bristol Rovers | Free Transfer |
| Nicolas Tié | Vitória de Guimarães | Undisclosed Amount |
| Jacob Maddox | Vitória de Guimarães | Undisclosed Amount |
| Willian | Arsenal | Free Transfer |
| Mario Pašalić | Atalanta | £13.5 million |
| Pedro | Roma | Free Transfer |
| Marcel Lavinier | Tottenham Hotspur | Free Transfer |
| Jake Askew | Wealdstone | Free Transfer |
| Jordan Aina | Fulham | Free Transfer |
| Kelechi Chibueze | Unattached | N/A |
| Richard Nartey | Burnley | Free Transfer |
| James Clark | Wycombe Wanderers | Free Transfer |
| Charlie Brown | Milton Keynes Dons | Undisclosed Amount |
| Lucas Piazon | Braga | Undisclosed Amount |
| Amani Richards | Arsenal | Free Transfer |
In the end, around £15 million was brought in from player sales, which did very little to offset the out-goings that the club spend bolstering the first-team squad. The club also loaned out 39 players across the two transfer windows, receiving £1.8 million from Napoli for the services of Tiémoué Bakayoko and an undisclosed amount from Milan for Fikayo Tomori, who left in the January.
2020-2021 Chelsea Squad
Chelsea did what they could to boost their attacking options in the transfer market, meaning that the first-team squad looked like this for the campaign, based on those that got an appearance in the Premier League:
| Player | Number | Country | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edouard Mendy | 16 | Senegal | Goalkeeper |
| Kepa Arrizabalaga | 1 | Spain | Goalkeeper |
| Willy Caballero | 13 | Argentina | Goalkeeper |
| Antonio Rudiger | 2 | Germany | Centre-Back |
| Thiago Silva | 6 | Braazil | Centre-Back |
| Andreas Christensen | 4 | Denmark | Defender |
| Ben Chilwell | 21 | England | Left-Back |
| Reece James | 24 | England | Right-Back |
| Marco Alonso | 3 | Spain | Right-Back |
| César Azpilicueta | 28 | Spain | Right-Back |
| Kurt Zouma | 15 | France | Defender |
| Emerson | 33 | Italy | Defender |
| Fikayo Tomori | 14 | England | Defender |
| Jorginho | 5 | Italy | Defensive Midfield |
| N’Golo Kante | 7 | France | Defensive Midfield |
| Mateo Kovačić | 17 | Croatia | Defensive Midfield |
| Ruben Loftus-Cheek | 12 | England | Midfield |
| Billy Gilmour | 23 | Scotland | Midfield |
| Ross Barkley | 8 | England | Midfield |
| Mason Mount | 19 | England | Midfield |
| Kai Havertz | 29 | Germany | Midfield |
| Tammy Abraham | 9 | England | Forward |
| Timo Werner | 11 | Germany | Forward |
| Christian Pulisic | 10 | United States of America | Forward |
| Callum Hudson-Odoi | 20 | England | Forward |
| Olivier Giroud | 18 | France | Forward |
| Hakim Ziyech | 22 | Morocco | Forward |
Kit & Sponsor
The home kit that Chelsea played in for the 2020-2021 season was the usual blue, boosted by black trim. It was manufactured by Nike and the main sponsor was the mobile phone network 3.
Chelsea’s away kit for the campaign can best be described as a speckled light club, again with black trim. The third kit was a sort of orangey-red, with blue strips on the top half in something of a V shape.
The goalkeeper’s first-choice kit was what can be politely described as highlighter green, whilst the second kit was a dull orange. The third goalkeeper kit was grey with a swirly pattern. As with the home kit, the away, third and goalkeeper kits were sponsored by 3 and manufactured by Nike.