Eghbali was speaking at the CAA World Congress of Sports conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, one of his most expansive public addresses since the BlueCo consortium completed its takeover of Chelsea in 2022. The club has spent around £1.5 billion on transfers since then, largely on players acquired on long-term contracts at premium prices.
"The view was to recruit and build elite players that can, frankly, be together and have that stability in the squad. We're still in the 40th, 50th minute of that process. But we've got to be better on a few things, to add more ready-made players at this part of the project, to take it to the next level, to be consistent over time."
"Our goal is to have elite, elite players on the pitch, elite characters off the pitch that our fans can bond with, that will be at the club, that will be club legends for the next 10 or 15 years and beyond. Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Levi Colwill, Estevao Willian, Reece James — we do have a core of good players, global players."
Eghbali also addressed the departure of Enzo Maresca on New Year's Day, calling it "not a change we wanted to make" and one that had "a bit of a negative impact" mid-season. He backed replacement Liam Rosenior to succeed but acknowledged the club's failure to achieve managerial stability.
"Getting that stability on the manager side is one of the things we haven't done right yet, and it's something we're striving to improve on."
A fan protest against the ownership group is planned outside Stamford Bridge ahead of Saturday's home match against Manchester United, with supporters from Strasbourg — also owned by BlueCo — set to join. Chelsea sit sixth in the Premier League with Champions League qualification at risk.