The turbulence of a frenetic transfer window barely passed, Chelsea finds itself once again in turmoil because of the tensions, reported by the press, existing between the president Todd Boehly and the majority shareholder Behdad Eghbali.
The wealthy west London club has been struggling with disappointing results and constant coaching changes since taking over in May 2022 following the sudden departure of Roman Abramovich.
However, the two new Chelsea leaders already seem to no longer want to work together. According to Bloomberg, each is now looking to buy out the other’s share; in other words, each is trying to oust his partner to take sole control of Stamford Bridge.
LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly has long been the face of renewal, notably for his brief stint as the Dodgers’ sporting director. « Blues ». But he only owns less than 13% of the club.
Conversely, the less exposed Behdad Eghbali took the majority of the pie (61.5%) via his private equity group, Clearlake Capital, when Chelsea was bought for £2.5bn, a record sum for a football club.
In two years, the sleeping giant of the Premier League has spent more than a billion extra to build a squad capable of taking it back to the top of England and Europe. Without success, nor much overall coherence.
“The club has become the laughing stock of everyone, both on and off the pitch”the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust noted in a statement earlier this year.
The Pochettino House
This summer, the club recruited another ten players, sometimes in similar positions. Wingers Pedro Neto, Joao Felix and Jadon Sancho arrived before the unwanted Raheem Sterling, the first recruit of the Boehly-Eghbali era, left at the last minute on loan to Arsenal.
Chelsea fans could soon be getting impatient after another inconsistent start to the season. The club sits in eleventh place after three games.
Abramovich’s 19-year tenure included two Champions League and five Premier League titles, among others. The new owners are still waiting for their first trophy, having finished twelfth and then sixth in the league.
Former manager Mauricio Pochettino narrowly failed to reach the League Cup final (a 1-0 extra-time defeat to Liverpool) in February and he did not survive last season, which was inconsistent in performance and cursed by injuries.
Letting go of the Argentinian manager was one of the hotbeds of tension among the directors, according to the British press: Boehly wanted to keep him, unlike Eghbali who was supported in his choice by the co-sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.
The new coach, Enzo Maresca, is like his predecessor at the forefront when it comes to commenting on the many rumors and information surrounding the club.
“If I spend my energy on something else (other than football, editor’s note), I think it’s not worth it”he replied on Friday to journalists who asked him about possible tensions within the general staff.
Between him and the management, he dodged, there is no problem: “I spoke with Todd, when we played City I think, I spoke with Behdad a few days ago. I speak with the bosses, there is no problem. I only concentrate on the pitch because that is the only thing I can control.”
The Italian also expressed satisfaction with the recruitment policy implemented during the summer. “I feel very lucky because we have a lot of versatile players, that’s something I really like. All the players we had targeted are here.”he assured.
