Not a single day goes by without chaos and drama at Chelsea football club. According to reports by the BBC, the relationship between Todd Boehly and co-owner, Behdad Eghbali, has turned quite sour. A fight for power has erupted, for the Blues’ ownership.
Investment firm, Clearlake Capital, own a majority share of the club, following the £4.25billion takeover in 2022. Todd Boehly owns a 13% stake at the club, being in charge of operations inside the club. The American business tycoon has sanctioned many high money player deals, due to which the club faced a lot of criticism.
Under the new ownership, Chelsea have spent over £1 billion on raw talents, without having the end product on the pitch. Things turned sour when former manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was sacked last season. Boehly was impressed by the manager’s turnaround in the later half of the last season. However, co-owner Eghbali wanted to change things and pressured the board to sack the Argentine.
This move created a cold war between the two owners, with a set of fans also bring against this move. It was felt that the Argentine was sacked just when he was getting the best out of his young team.
The strife has reignited when the new manager, Enzo Maresca, was appointed. Todd Boehly did not approve for his signing. The Blues’ again had a busy transfer window, spending around £200m on new signings. The lack of unity in the board is prompting Todd Boehly to sell his shares in the West London club.
Todd Boehly considering to sell his shares at London
Chelsea could get a new ownership after things have turned sour within the ownership management. Todd Boehly bought shares at the club from former owner, Roman Abramovich, two years ago for a whopping US$5.6 billion.
Boehly has faced a lot of criticism from the fans due to his impatient nature. The last two years have been very stressful for the American business tycoon and his decision to quit se understandable.
According to Bloomberg UK, Todd Boehly is now putting firm consideration towards selling his shares in Chelsea. However, Clearlake Capital will not be selling any of their shares in the club. They will continue to lead the ownership at the West London side.
Sky Sports reports that Clearlake feel they now have a very good position in the club, having worked hard to appoint sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.
Eghbali’s transfer model damaging Chelsea
Since the takeover, the Blues have spent more than £1.2 billion on transfers, increasingly with a younger profile aimed at future resale value. This strategy has profited the owners but not the managers. The plans of the owners is confusing every football fan across the world.
Having so many players creates chaos within the dressing room, and unnecessary competition within the dressing room. Senior players like Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Connor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah were axed creating chaos and confusion inside the team.
This situation never ends well for a manager. No manager could develop a proper chemistry between the players. This resulted in the players losing faith on the manager. The club will struggle to compete against rivals like Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool if these problems persist.
Chelsea fans have grown frustrated with seeing players from their academy moved on in favour of less experienced and young players. Just for the sake of making huge profits, the owners are killing the soul of Stamford Bridge.
However, top football journalist Fabrizio Romano praised Todd Boehly’s recent transfer model. He says;
“Even last summer I think they did excellent job with the outgoings, bringing in good fees for players like Mason Mount and Kai Havertz – and it was absolutely needed from a technical and financial point of view.”
“Another example is Eden Hazard, who was a wonderful player who they sold at exactly the right moment, this was something smart, even if it was not easy to lose a star like Hazard.”
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