Hunted have become the hunters: Inside's Chelsea quest to reclaim their Women's Super League crown

On the outside, Chelsea had two main issues last term: a lack of cutting edge in the final third, which led to their lowest goal-scoring return in seven years, and a debilitating number of injuries.

The two are linked, too, as when a team is missing its starting centre-forward, as Chelsea were due to Mayra Ramirez’s hamstring issue, or its talisman, with Lauren James absent for three months, meaning she started just half of the Blues’ league games, it has a notable impact.

As such, there is a balance to strike when looking at last season. Yes, it was disappointing, but there were reasons for that that were somewhat out of Chelsea’s control. Nathalie Bjorn, who endured some of the cruellest of those injury woes last season, agrees. “I think we have a really good squad,” she tells GOAL. “But it's difficult when players who play a lot of minutes and are very important for the team get those injuries.”

Encouragingly, Bompastor admits the injury situation is something that she and the club have “reflected” on, too. “It was important for us to take the learnings from maybe what we think didn't go well last season and what we can improve going into this new season,” she says.

Addressing issues in the attacking third, meanwhile, has been a key feature of Chelsea’s summer transfer window. As Kerr’s departure loomed, the Blues looked set to sign Manchester City star Khadija Shaw, only for her to renew terms with the new WSL champions. Deals for Felicia Schroder, who joined Real Madrid for a near-world-record fee, and Salma Paralluelo, now at Lyon after leaving Barcelona, didn’t go through either.

“You always need to anticipate,” Bompastor says. “We know now the competition is becoming stronger and stronger, with many clubs able to invest in the women's game.”

In the end, Chelsea added Melvine Malard from Manchester United, who Bompastor knows well from her Lyon days. The France international can play out wide or through the middle, providing versatility that can give the Blues depth in a more effective way.

“It's important to find the right balance in your squad in terms of numbers, but also quality,” Bompastor explains. “I think having players who are able to play at the highest level in many positions helps me to find the right balance between having the right number of players and the competition being too high, with too many players to deal with.”

Sprinkling in some creativity behind Malard are Giulia Dragoni, the promising and versatile Italy teenager, and Manaka Matsukubo, the 22-year-old Japan international who arrives from the North Carolina Courage after being named NWSL Midfielder of the Year in 2025. Matsukubo played as a striker and a No.10 in the U.S. but will fill the latter role in England, one Bompastor believes Chelsea were “missing some creativity” from last year.

“She is so fast with her feet,” Bjorn notes in a rave review about her new team-mate. “You think you have the ball, but you don’t. She’s really, really good.”

There are other reasons why Chelsea underwhelmed last year and Bompastor knows it, but she’s keen not to reveal all.

“It's sometimes difficult to just expose them outside my environment,” she explains, with a laugh. “Because some of the things are good learnings for us to keep in this environment.”

One thing the Chelsea boss does mention a few breaths later, though, and several times throughout her interview with GOAL, is culture. Asked about her main takeaways from last year, Bompastor says: “Regenerating the squad was important. Working on rebuilding the culture and the environment was also something really important.

“From my experience, the best teams, when they want to go far in competitions, they have a strong culture. They have a really special mentality to want to win everything and this is linked to behaviours and attitudes every day when you report for training, when you report on the pitch for games.”

“Rebuilding” that culture is all the more pressing because of some of Chelsea’s departures, with Bright and Kerr among the stand-out leaders from the Hayes era. That said, their exits don’t mean this squad suddenly lacks big characters. Asked about filling those voids, Bjorn reels off a whole host of team-mates who have captained their countries: Naomi Girma for the United States, Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh for England, Kadeisha Buchanan for Canada and, now, Katie McCabe for Ireland. “We have so many big leaders,” Bjorn notes.

McCabe was Chelsea’s first signing of the summer window, plugging a gap at left-back left by Niamh Charles’ subsequent move to Manchester City. Her quality was the first point of attraction, but after highlighting that, Bompastor is quick to note the value of the ex-Arsenal star's “leadership”, too.

“I think that was also one of the main reasons we wanted to have Katie in our environment,” she says. “Sometimes, as much as you want to work with your players around the winning mentality, the culture, the behaviours, the attitude, if it's not natural or in your DNA, it's difficult to get to a point where you bring the right mentality and the right culture. I think, naturally, Katie brings that.

"For us, having lost Sam Kerr, Millie Bright and more important players who were part of the Chelsea team for a long time, I think it was important to target players who were able to help us to build a new culture and a new mentality with this team. Katie ticked all the boxes from that aspect.”

When it comes to implementing these off-pitch changes, a pre-season tour can go a long way. Chelsea’s took them to Australia and New Zealand this summer, where Bompastor believes the players had the opportunity “to spend time together to understand each other” on and off the pitch. “I think when you build those relationships and those connections off the pitch, you always get better things on the pitch as well.”

There, the hope will be that Matsukubo, Dragoni and Malard can bolster what was a stuttering attack, as can McCabe’s wonderful crosses from open play and set-pieces. Healthier seasons for James, Ramirez, Aggie Beever-Jones, and more, would also help. Bompastor wants to concede fewer goals as well, and not having the injuries at centre-back that Chelsea did last season will, again, go a long way towards that.

Off the pitch, it’s clear that Bompastor wants this group to be in the right place to be a winning machine again. There have been some big personnel changes this summer and adjustment will be needed. However, there are still so many experienced characters in this squad, whom she will hope can lead the way in creating the necessary environment.

The early signs, in that regard, are good. Bompastor speaks to GOAL after delivering a pre-season training session to her team that she revealed beforehand was going to be “really challenging”. But their reaction to that sort of thing has been encouraging. “They are really enjoying working hard together,” she notes.

Underpinning it all is the frustration that lingers from last year. The players who were part of Chelsea’s worst WSL season in seven years are using that disappointment to further fuel the desire to be better.

“Even if we have days where we are not ourselves, I want us to still win that game,” Bjorn says. “I want our lowest level to be higher than it was last season.”

Right now, Chelsea feel like a wounded animal. This is a group of winners that fell short of the standards they expect last season. With some fresh faces, squad depth that remains impressive and that added drive, there are plenty of reasons to believe this beast can fight back.