Chelsea 2020-2021 Season Review – Results, Transfers, Squad, Sponsors & Kits

Stamford Bridge Seating 2020-2021 Season

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

Nike and Three UK Logos

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.