Ben Dinnery

Fri 20 January 2023 22:00, UK

Chelsea have to respect Todd Boehly’s decision to reshuffle the club’s medical department after his takeover at Stamford Bridge.

That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.

Chelsea are currently enduring an injury crisis, with as many as 10 first-team players out of action in Graham Potter’s side.

The Blues were subject to a £4.25billion takeover in May when a consortium led by Boehly bought the club from Roman Abramovich.

The American outlined several changes at the club, one of which was a rehaul in the medical department which included the club medical chief and head of physio leaving over the summer.

After struggling with an unusual number of injuries this season, The Telegraph reported last Friday (13 January) that Chelsea are now conducting an internal review of their medical department.

Dinnery believes Chelsea have no option but to follow Boehly’s new direction.

“There’s a lot of attention on what’s happening behind closed doors at Chelsea,” Dinnery told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.

“We can only guess what has prompted the decisions to reshuffle personnel and conduct this extraordinary medical department review.

“In defence of the medical team, Chelsea have historically always had really low injury burden despite the number of minutes and games that they played – players have always had great availability records.

“But a lot of that is because of the type of football and the demands of the manager, which is something Graham Potter is changing.

“Obviously the hierarchy at Chelsea felt a need to change the medical department and they have to respect that decision.

“Boehly is the club owner and ultimately he’s the guy pumping money into the club, not Abramovich, so he’s going to do as he sees fit.”

In other news, Chelsea are ‘not done’ in the January transfer market amid £100m source claim