A billion pounds for his thoughts. That’s how much he’s spent but now he might finally win something.

I may be doing the gentleman a disservice, but I doubt whether Todd Boehly, principal owner of Chelsea FC, had ever heard of the Carabao Cup before he bought the club.

Come to think of it, he may not have heard of Chelsea, either.

But now the humble and perennially derided trophy offers him a tangible reward for a spending spree that earned Roman Abramovich comparison with Scrooge.

Beat Liverpool in the Wembley final and it would be the first silverware of the new era – along with a passport to Europe.

The winners will take part in the European Conference League next season.

Originally called the League Cup, the Carabao is first on the calendar but a poor fourth in importance.

But after the year that Chelsea just endured, it’s a big deal to them now: it could mark the turning point in the fortunes of both club and manager, let alone those of their American equity company owners.

For Mauricio Pochettino, whose tenure so far has been frustrating and disappointing, it suggests he might not have lost his managerial mojo after all.

At the very least, the storming six-goal win over Middlesbrough in the semi-final hinted that the worst might be over.

There was a quality and consistency to Chelsea’s play not seen in a couple of seasons – and the crowd responded as if the good times might finally be heading back towards Stamford Bridge.

After a torturous start to the campaign, Chelsea are now unbeaten at home in nine games and sit ninth in the table.

Manchester United, Brighton and West Ham are the three clubs above them and all look as if they could be overhauled.

A place in Europe is very much on the cards for Chelsea even if they lose to Liverpool on February 25.

If Jurgen Klopp’s men win and also finish in the top four, the Conference League qualification spot would go to the seventh placed club if a top five finisher also wins the FA Cup.

It’s complicated, but it means that, one way or another, Chelsea could be playing European football next season.

They should, anyway, based on their recent form.

And they may be targeting something better than the Conference.

Things are beginning to click. Among the myriad names signed, there are some gems.

Not least Cole Palmer who added another brace this week and continues to suggest that Pep Guardiola might have made a mistake in letting him go.

There’s a coolness about the ex-Manchester City starlet that takes the breath away and he’s already made it into the England side at 21.

It’s indeed ironic that a transfer policy seemingly based on ‘search long enough, you will eventually find’ has been rewarded with a £42m star gift-wrapped from their rich rivals.

Give or take the odd £50m left-back, Boehly and his Clearlake cronies have spent £1bn on players after buying the club for £2.5bn.

One hesitates to say ‘rebuilding’ because it wasn’t broken in the first place.

The Blues had slipped a bit but were champions of Europe the year before.

Pochettino also looked re-energised this week, as did Raheem Sterling. But the biggest plus, after Palmer, was the return of Ben Chilwell as an attacking left-back.

Out for four months, the former Leicester man showed what had been missing. Alas, on the other flank, Reece James is still a long-term casualty.

But what Chelsea have also been missing is a striker with Christopher Nkunku, maddeningly breaking down again after a four-month absence.

It has brought the inevitable links with Kylian Mbappe and Victor Osimhen but given the cash restraints, neither seem likely.

Pochettino is the managerial equivalent of Harry Kane – having gone abroad to win a trophy.

In Poch’s case, it was three at Paris Saint-Germain – but they are inevitably dubbed second-class. He is still to break his duck in England.

The Argentine looked the right pick when handed the poisoned chalice last summer but it has taken a while.

A developer of young talent and champion of attacking football, he transformed Spurs but didn’t win anything.

The Chelsea job is considered his last crack at the EPL.

He says he is ‘desperate to win the Carabao Cup’, having lost as Spurs boss, in the final to Chelsea in 2015, as well as to Liverpool in the Champions League final of 2019.

And the irony that it’s the poor cousin, Carabao Cup, affording these opportunities for redemption should not be lost.

It has suffered from a variety of sponsor’s names – none of them A-List – and has often been used to give fringe players a run out.

Well, Chelsea have a lot of fringe players. Maybe their time has come.

The views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.