CHELSEA made the ‘most expensive substitution in history’ in a switch which cost more than Brighton’s entire matchday squad.
The Blues lost to the Seagulls on Saturday in what was their fourth defeat in five.
Frank Lampard turned to his very expensive bench in an unsuccessful attempt to turn the tide against Brighton
The struggling Londoners are have slumped into the bottom half of the table and have only the Champions League left to play for.
In complete contrast, Brighton are upwardly mobile despite Chelsea taking their manager earlier this season.
The contrasts between the two clubs could not have been more evident when caretaker boss Frank Lampard turned to his bench with the game at 1-1.
In a quadruple change, Hakim Ziyech, Joao Felix, Reece James and Mateo Kovacic were all introduced while Enzo Fernandez, Christian Pulisic, Raheem Sterling and Wesley Fofana made way.
As first reported by football finance boffin Kieran Maguire, the substitution may well work its way into the Premier League record books.
The 57th minute change saw £83.2m worth of talent coming off the pitch and a combined £281.5m walking on.
The swap saw a total of £374.7m of players either being subbed on or subbed off in the space of a minute
While that figure alone is staggering, it becomes even more extraordinary when Chelsea’s subs alone are compared to Brighton’s team.
The south coast club’s entire matchday squad amounted to just £83.1m, which is less than Fernandez’s transfer fee alone.
While the Argentine midfielder cost £107m and Wesley Fofana’s transfer came to £70m, Brighton’s biggest expenditure was the £20m fee for Adam Webster and the £15m it cost to acquire Pervis Estupinan.
Meanwhile, eight of Brighton’s matchday squad cost nothing or came through the youth academy, including Lewis Dunk and Solly March.
In contrast only James, Mason Mount and Trevoh Chalobah emerged from Chelsea’s academy from their matchday squad.
Fans were stunned as the cost of the Blues’ subs emerged.
One supporter wrote: “I don’t know whether that makes me want to laugh or cry.”
While another simply said: “Unbelievable.”
Despite the quadruple swap, it was Brighton who went on to win the game thanks to a rocket from Julio Enciso.
