BarcelonaAfter two months of auction, Chelsea has finally found a buyer. This is Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Dodgers, the Los Angeles baseball franchise. The American will end up paying 4.25 billion pounds, the equivalent of almost 5 billion euros, Chelsea said in a statement. The sale is expected to be “official by the end of May, once the authorities have given the green light to all documentation,” the English group also said.
Boehly, who in addition to the Dodgers is also a shareholder in the Lakers, heads a consortium that also includes the investment firm Clearlake Capital. This purchase puts an end to one of the series that has most shaken English football and, in return, European football, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Thus, the oligarch Roman Abramovich finds a buyer for a club that he put up for sale just before he was sanctioned for his links with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Of the nearly 5 billion euros, 2,900 will be used to buy the shares and the remaining package will be part of the investment to which the new owners have committed. These investments are mainly in improvements to Stamford Bridge Stadium (one of the most archaic in the Premier League), the player training academy, the women’s team or the foundation of the entity.
The amount resulting from the sale of club shares will be deposited in a frozen British checking account. The money will go entirely to humanitarian causes, as Abramovich announced when he announced that he was leaving the club. The transaction is taken for granted, but the British government’s authorization will be lacking, as Chelsea had been involved in waiting for the sale to be completed. The Premier League will also have to give the green light. However, according to the BBC, the new owners have already guaranteed that they will have the approval of all parties involved, and are confident that by the end of the month all documents will have been officially validated.
The new Chelsea owners are committed to staying at the club for at least 10 years
According to the British public broadcaster, one of the main concerns of the government and the Premier League was the stability of the club in the medium term. Boehly’s offer would have gone ahead, therefore, with the commitment of the new owners to be at the helm of the entity for at least 10 years. In addition, the chain also explained that the purchasing group would also have agreed not to distribute profits for a period of time to ensure the viability of the project. Negotiations came at a critical juncture when Abramovich demanded that the new owners repay the loans he had applied for in recent years on behalf of the club. Finally, as confirmed by the oligarch, he waived this request to clear the sale.
The Dodgers co-owner was not the only offer Chelsea received. In fact, there were several suitors, but most were rejected either because they offered no guarantees or because they involved turning Chelsea into a state club (one of the proposals came from Saudi Arabia). Even at the last minute came the proposal of Jim Ratcliffe, CEO of Inos and considered the richest man in Britain. The offer, although economically very juicy, was not validated because it arrived late.
