Chelsea one step closer to completing Roman Abramovich dream as £200m decision already justified

On Wednesday night Chelsea went to Manchester United and lifted their fifth piece of major silverware in what is approaching three years since the Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly ownership takeover. Despite the major investment into the men's first team and countless managers, it is the women's team that continues to have the most success.

- which aided compliance with the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules (PSRs) but does not count towards UEFA's own system - maybe this latest victory is justification. After all, Clearlake-Boehly have mainly left the women's operation to run itself.

They have funded big money transfers including those of Keira Walsh and Naomi Girmi in the January transfer window but it is relatively little compared to the cost of equivalent deals in the men's game. This is one of the contributing factors as to how the women have managed to maintain their domestic dominance.

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A £1million transfer is enormous and record-breaking for the women but is hardly enough to cover the wages of Chelsea's midfield for two weeks. The financial gain from smaller investments into the women's team is much greater. Anyway, with the sport continuing to grow, Chelsea's position that the women should be an entirely separate entity does have sporting merit.

Whether that equates to a value of £200million or not is very much up for debate. It is expected that the Premier League will adjust the price but Chelsea went for the moon and will have factored that in.

- albeit Emma's Hayes' final farewell was at Old Trafford rather than the Leigh Sports Village, which is where the Under-21s and Under-18s also play regularly - can only boost Chelsea's hopes of seeing their women's team accepted as such a massive asset. On a footballing level it is a remarkable achievement.

Sure, this team has been heavily backed by Clearlake-Boehly, just as it was under Roman Abramovich, but the consistency to have won the title this early without losing is remarkable. Chelsea have not been at their best under Sonia Bompastor but they have ground out wins in a manner which Hayes would not only be proud of but in fact it might even eclipse her.

Failing to bypass Barcelona again in the Champions League is a reminder of just how high the bar actually is. Chelsea have come through and could claim a domestic treble without defeat but the ambitions are unambiguously the Champions League. Bompastor herself has admitted as much.

Under Abramovich Chelsea came as close as they ever have so far, reaching the final in 2021 but the league success which has spanned ownerships is relentless beyond. Both the men and women were in unparalleled dreamland at the time and now, even when lifting another title, they have found themselves celebrating victory but facing a big mountain ahead.

Still led by Paul Green and a core of senior players - such as Milly Bright, who has captained this team to six straight league titles, a genuinely staggering achievement - Chelsea have continued to run themselves as an elite institution in the women's game and have everything in place that the men do not. Partially this is because when Clearlake-Boehly arrived they were already levels apart.

Whereas the men's side had plateaued in the Premier League (in spite of Thomas Tuchel's Champions League win) the women have been leaders of the English game for years thanks to Hayes and Green. The challenge is now to replicate that but the systems are not necessarily scalable.

This should not diminish or detract from what the women have done. If Arne Slot had big shoes to fill at Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp then Bompastor was replacing Sir Alex Ferguson.

She is now on the verge of doing something Hayes never did. The long-term plans and ambitions are still the same. Clearlake-Boehly will need this all to continue for some time now whilst they add in the men's success as well. For now, Sonya's squadron rolls on.