Premier League give green light for Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly to seal £500m deal
The combined net worth of Chelsea consortium BlueCo is over £30bn. Based on data from UBS and Credit Suisse, that is more than the assets of all but the 110 wealthiest countries on earth respectively.
With that extraordinary, some would say, egregious level of wealth, there was always going to be some largesse at Stamford Bridge following the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital-led takeover in May 2022.
However, the level of spending since that £2.5bn deal has vaporised all expectations and, despite an emerging narrative that they have eased up somewhat, continues to do so.
Headlines figures will tell you that Chelsea’s net spend in the transfer market this season was a modest £40m. In the Premier League, that barely gets them into the top half of the net spend table.
However, that statistic is just one part of a much wider, much more expensive picture.
Official data from the FA, for example, will be released some time this month documenting how much clubs have spent in agents’ fees this season.
Last term, Chelsea were the biggest spenders by a £15m margin, with a total outlay of £75m on agents. In 2024-25, they are expected to have that dubious honour once again. And, again, by some distance.
| Club | £ Net total paid to Agents/Intermediaries |
|---|---|
| Chelsea | 75,140,524 |
| Manchester City | 60,626,025 |
| Manchester United | 34,054,001 |
| Liverpool | 31,500,211 |
| Arsenal | 24,760,875 |
| Aston Villa | 21,160,122 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 19,731,099 |
| Newcastle United | 18,881,923 |
| AFC Bournemouth | 15,999,925 |
| West Ham United | 13,880,365 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 13,392,541 |
| Nottingham Forest | 13,063,445 |
| Fulham | 12,062,906 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 11,393,102 |
| Crystal Palace | 11,082,430 |
| Everton | 10,623,224 |
| Brentford | 8,147,957 |
| Burnley | 6,944,589 |
| Sheffield United | 5,127,509 |
| Luton Town | 2,020,146 |
| Total | 409,592,929 |
What’s more, the Blues have not, contrary to what was briefed to the press last year, cut their average weekly player wage to £60,000. Not by a long shot.
The Chelsea Chronicle reported at the time that the figure was misleading in the extreme and did not take into account variable pay, i.e. performance-related bonuses, image rights fees and so on.
And, with the release of Chelsea’s accounts for 2023-24, the club have revealed a total annual wage bill of £338m. Even taking into account wider staff costs, the numbers don’t get get close to adding up.
Granted, that wage bill was £62m lower than the previous season. But £45m of that £62m difference from 2022-24 was pay-offs to Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
It all counts towards Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), in any case.
Thanks to some conjuring tricks from Chelsea’s accounts team, a breach of Premier League spending rules has been avoided. However, under UEFA – who have a distinct PSR system – it’s a different story.
However, as University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire explains later in this article, there tend to be ways and means of minimising the impact.
And for billionaires like Todd Boehly, the regulations either tend to be more favourable or the consequences for breaking them less severe regardless of what industry he operates.
Todd Boehly on verge of landmark media takeover
With Boehly and Behdad Eghbali still at loggerheads over the future of Stamford Bridge, it appears that – one day in the medium term – one of the two men will leave the club.
Given that his Clearlake Capital control far more equity in Chelsea, logic would suggest that Eghbali is the more likely of the two to get his way in West London.
However, Boehly’s actions in recent weeks show zero intents to reduce his presence in the UK, with the 51-year-old paying £40m for a significant stake in the Hundred cricket franchise Trent Rockets last month.
Now, his latest business venture, one which could be far more seismic as far as his influence and foundations in the country are concerned, could see Boehly acquire The Telegraph newspaper.
The Times report that neither the Premier League nor the government will block a Boehly bid to buy the 170-year-old publication on conflict of interest grounds.
It is said that The Telegraph’s current owners, RedBird IMI, will not accept any less than £500m.
Incidentally, RedBird IMI is a joint venture between RedBird, who are investors in Liverpool ownership FSG, and International Media Management, who are effectively owned by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners – a process emblematic of the money and power sloshing around in the Premier League these days.
Historically, the government has blocked deals wherein there could be a conflict of interest between a club owner and a rightsholder, like with Rupert Murdoch’s bid via BSkyB to buy Man United in 1999.
However, an institution like The Telegraph who, while the report on the Premier League are not a rightsholder, is not seen as an issue.
Chelsea’s PSR negotiations with UEFA
With the news that Chelsea are in talks with UEFA over a possible settlement for breaking their PSR system, The Chelsea Chronicle spoke exclusively to Kieran Maguire for his take.
“Certainly in discussions I have had with observers, the consensus was always that Chelsea were at very, very high risk of breaching financial rules,” said the Price of Football podcast host
“However, UEFA appear to have gone down the route of doing financial sanctions rather than sporting ones, and modest ones at that.”
Barcelona are an example here. They were handed a fine of less than one per cent of revenue for recent PSR breaches under UEFA’s system.
Premier League PSR punishment possible
And with the news that the Premier League are still scrutinising the sale of Chelsea’s women’s team to another BlueCo-owned company for £200m, could a Premier League punishment be on the horizon?
“The noises that are coming out of the Premier League are suggesting that we need to wait and see, even though Chelsea did submit their financial accounts to the Premier League by 31 December,” says Maguire.
“Because they met that deadline, most people though that there had been no charge. But this appears to be such a complex issue that the Premier League is taking more time before they reach their decision.”
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