Chelsea are currently navigating a period of transition, and head coach Sonia Bompastor told Sky Sports that rebuilding a club of this stature takes time. Her comments were not a generic pundit sound‑bite but a candid assessment of where the Blues stand as they head into the new Women’s Super League campaign. The past two years have been anything but calm. Bompastor arrived to replace the legendary Emma Hayes, inheriting a side that had dominated English women’s football for a decade.
The upheaval continued when Paul Green, who had served alongside Hayes as head of women’s football, left the club in February. Together, Hayes and Green had built an era of unprecedented triumphs that set a benchmark few can match. Bompastor’s first season saw her guide Chelsea to an unbeaten domestic treble – a remarkable achievement that some observers attributed in part to Hayes’ lingering influence.
However, the second campaign revealed cracks in the old formula and underscored that the team was entering a new chapter. Now, entering her third pre‑season, Bompastor says she feels the club’s full backing to shape that future.
"I think now I understand what the club is about a lot more," she explained. "I also understand what we want to achieve and bringing my input into that. It's good to be in a place where I feel the confidence and the trust coming from the hierarchy in the club. As much as I know my job, we need to get good results in order for me to stay as long as possible, but it's also important to feel like we also have time to rebuild the team in order for us to compete against the best." Last season, Chelsea captured only the League Cup and slipped to third place behind Manchester City and Arsenal – the first time in six years they failed to win the WSL title.
Bompastor reflected on that disappointment: "We wanted last season to be a more successful season because Chelsea is a club who is used to winning. We only won one trophy, but if you analyse it, we have some good learnings to take and that's really important for us to reflect on." She emphasized that rebuilding is as much about culture as it is about tactics. "We spoke a lot about the environment and the culture we want to create here at Chelsea.
It's a lot about standards, behaviours, how you show up every day, how much you are committing to work hard to achieve your goals and what are the type of behaviours you want to show up every day, off and on pitch. Who do we want to be as a team?
How do we want people to talk about Chelsea? These things are really important for us to be able to achieve the goals we have." The summer window has already signalled a fresh start, especially in terms of personnel. Long‑time stalwarts have departed: former captain Millie Bright retired, prolific forward Sam Kerr moved back to the United States, and midfielders Niamh Charles, Guro Reiten and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd also left. Their exits represent a loss of experience, leadership and a deep connection to the club’s winning ethos.
"We lost some really important players in terms of the environment and culture," Bompastor admitted. "Some of them had been here for many years and it's difficult to replace them.
So it's for us, the staff and club, to think about how and what is the best way to replace them. It's about the recruitment, but also again linked back to the environment and the culture we want to create." Chelsea’s recruitment strategy this summer has been a blend of proven experience and promising youth. Two of the four signings so far illustrate that balance: Irish full‑back Katie McCabe and 18‑year‑old forward Nelly Las.
Bompastor needed little introduction for McCabe, noting that the defender’s quality speaks for itself and that she immediately began to influence squad standards and professionalism. "She has already started to impact the squad in terms of the behaviours and the standards," Bompastor said, expressing satisfaction at having McCabe in Chelsea colours.
Las, a Leicester product who has already featured in 16 WSL games and represented England at youth level, embodies the club’s commitment to developing talent. "It's important to have the right balance between experienced players, but also the youth into the squad," Bompastor explained. "Players having versatility to play in different positions is also really important for me. I'm a manager who really loves to work with young players, to invest time to develop them and I'm really keen to bring these players into the squad and see how they can develop to contribute to the success we will have in the future." The pressure to win at Chelsea is relentless, and the challenge now is to honour that legacy while forging a new identity.
Senior figures, regardless of how long they have been at the club, are expected to embody and transmit the winning mentality. Defender Ellie Carpenter, who joined only a year ago but already boasts multiple trophies, sees herself stepping into a leadership role. "Chelsea are going through a bit of a transition phase at the moment.
A lot of legends have gone and they left such a great legacy," she told Sky Sports. "Now it's our turn to do that, follow in their footsteps and to build on what Chelsea is as a club. Our aim this season is to fight for those trophies back and show what Chelsea is about. We want to do it as a team, winning in that way and enjoying it and hopefully getting the results on the way as well." One trophy still eludes the Blues: the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
While domestic silverware has often arrived almost as an afterthought, European glory has been a stated ambition since the club’s rise to prominence. Bompastor, a Champions League winner with Lyon, was hired in part for that pedigree. Several members of the current squad have already lifted the European crown – Carpenter, striker Melvine Malard, defender Kadeisha Buchanan, McCabe (with Arsenal) and Lucy Bronze, who has five European titles to her name – yet none of those triumphs have come in a Chelsea shirt.
"Winning the Champions League is one of the main goals for us," Bompastor affirmed. "We'll work as hard as possible to achieve that and I know everyone is expecting Chelsea to always be at their best. But the competition now in Europe is getting higher and higher. Many clubs now are in a position where they can compete to win the Champions League.
I don't want to shy away from us and our ambitions, but I also know it's difficult. That's the one trophy we're missing in the club and we will try as hard as possible to fight for that." Carpenter echoed that sentiment: "It's always what Chelsea want. It's what their ambition is, what the fans want, what everyone here wants and what we work towards every day.
This squad is young, but multiple people have won it in the team, so that helps a lot to bring the experience and what it takes to win. But we're just going to go game‑by‑game this season. We don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves.
When we're enjoying football, we're playing our best football." The scrutiny that comes with wearing the blue shirt is intense, and Bompastor admits it is a new experience for her. "I've never been in a place before where the scrutiny is so high like at Chelsea, but I'm comfortable with it," she said. "It means people care about us and really think we are a really important club.
That's what comes with our standards and Chelsea being one of the best clubs in the world, so we need to get comfortable with that. We need to make sure when we go into the season, we don't have any regrets and we give our all any time we step into the pitch." In summary, Chelsea are in the midst of a metamorphosis.
The club’s historic success under Hayes was built on constant evolution, and Bompastor hopes to continue that tradition. By blending seasoned internationals with emerging talent, reinforcing a culture of high standards, and keeping the Champions League within reach, the Blues aim to write the next chapter of their storied history.