Chelsea’s ladies team made history in January by breaking the world record transfer fee for a female player.
Naomi Girma has made the move from San Diego Wave to London for a fee of £900,000… and the first time in history that the $1 million ceiling had been broken in the women’s game.
The previous record was £685,000, paid by Bay FC for Rachel Kundanaji in 2024, which shows just how desperate Chelsea were to land their prized defender.
The Blues have become one of the biggest spenders in the WSL. In January 2024, they broke the British record for a transfer fee paid when bringing in Mayra Ramirez from Levante for £384,000.
The women’s team is starting to mirror that of the men, who of course have been renowned for their big spending in the ownership eras of Roman Abramovich and Todd Boehly.
Both have bankrolled British record transfers for the club, with the Blues breaking new ground on three separate occasions… the first as long ago as 1923!
Andy Wilson (£6,500)
It’s almost impossible to believe that Chelsea broke the British transfer record in 1923 when they splashed out £6,500 on a player… and almost a century later, they broke the record again when signing Enzo Fernandez for £106.8 million!
But that’s evidence of the commercialisation of football over the years – not to mention the impact of inflation on the beautiful game.
Andy Wilson was the man who tempted Chelsea to break the transfer record back in 1923. He was a Scottish striker that had a happy knack of finding the net, plundering plenty of goals in two spells with Middlesbrough and north of the border with Hearts.
He headed to Stamford Bridge halfway through the 1923/24 season – this was in the days prior to transfer windows, and finished that campaign with the unique distinction of being both Chelsea and Middlesbrough’s top goalscorer.
All told, Wilson spent eight seasons at the club, contributing 59 goals in 238 appearances.
Andriy Shevchenko (£30.8 million)
Roman Abramovich, like most billionaire entrepreneurs, is not a man that will be denied.
He spent more than a year trying to sign Andriy Shevchenko, who was regarded as one of the very best strikers in world football back in the mid-2000s.
In the end, he managed to crack the Ukrainian, with Shevchenko admitting that it was the club owner’s ‘persistence’ that got the deal over the line.
At a cost of £30.8 million, Shevchenko was the new British record transfer in June 2006, but his signing was not the slam dunk most expected – he only played 48 games for Chelsea over a three-year period, netting just nine goals.
And while his influence was minimal, the Blues did win the FA Cup and League Cup while Shevchenko was at the club, while he contributing a couple of goals in their run to the 2007/08 Champions League final.
Enzo Fernandez (£106.8 million)
At the time of writing, Enzo Fernandez’s January 2023 move to Chelsea remains the record British transfer fee paid, as well as being the fifth most expensive signing in world football history.
You sense that the Argentine has struggled with the weight of his extortionate fee at times – during the 2023/24 season, he received more yellow cards than he had goal involvements.
But Fernandez has upped his game in 2024/25, recording seven goal involvements in his first 17 Premier League appearances of the campaign… maybe, just maybe, he’ll prove to be money well spent after all!
The World’s Most Expensive Goalkeeper
It’s somewhat unfortunate how the career of Kepa Arrizabalaga has played out.
In August 2018, Chelsea matched the release clause in his Athletic Bilbao contract – at £71.6 million, Kepa became the most expensive goalkeeper in football history… an accolade that, at the time of writing, he still holds to this day.
The Spaniard struggled to adjust to the nature of English football, which put the logic of handing him a seven-year contract under scrutiny.
For all his ups and downs, Kepa did take to the field when Chelsea won the Europa League in 2019, saving two penalties in the semi-final and also proving to be a hero from 12 yards in the EFL Cup semi-final as well.
But poor form and low confidence saw him moved out to Real Madrid on loan in 2023/24, before another temporary switch saw Kepa head to Bournemouth for the 2024/25 season.
At the time of writing, the Spaniard is – technically – still a Chelsea player, but whether he pulls on the goalkeeper’s shirt for the club ever again remains to be seen.