We examine how Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund are linked with Chelsea and how Chelsea are using this to overcome Financial Fair Play along with the relationship between PIF and Clearlake Capital
As per reports, Boehly visited Saudi Arabia in June and subsequently, rumors of Chelsea stars joining the Saudi Pro League has emerged. Following this development, fans are beginning to question the relationship between Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and Chelsea.
Are Clearlake Capital and Saudi Arabia PIF linked, who are the owners of Chelsea and net worth in 2023
Boehly is the figurehead of the Chelsea ownership consortium and a name now familiar to millions of football fans. Boehly, a 49-year-old American businessman, is also part-owner of MLB team the LA Dodgers and is the face of a group backed by investment firm Clearlake Capital, along with other wealthy partners, including Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, and Boehly’s Dodgers partner Mark Walter.
Boehly is worth around $4.5 billion, according to Forbes and is heavily involved in U.S. sport, a fact underlined by his involvement with the Dodgers, where he is a member of the ownership consortium Guggenheim Baseball Management and is reported to have at 20 percent personal stake in the team
The Saudi PIF has financial interests in a vast array of companies and projects, including many in the world of sport, with Newcastle and the LIV Golf Tour two of the better known ones in that domain and it has been reported by that the PIF has “billions of pounds of assets managed by Clearlake”, though Chelsea sources have insisted there was no Saudi involvement when the club was purchased by Clearlake in 2022.
Talks are going on in order to agree a move for @ChelseaFC outgoings #Mendy, #Koulibaly and #Ziyech to join Saudi teams (respectively) @ALAHLI_FC, @Alhilal_EN and @AlNassrFC_EN. #Lukaku isn't convinced about Saudi's possibility as he'd prefer to stay at @Inter. 🔵 #Chelsea #CFC
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) June 18, 2023
Know the relationship between Chelsea owners and Saudi PIF
According to rumors, the co-owner of Chelsea and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia are directly negotiating for the Blues to sell its undesired, high-earning players to the Middle East. Despite owning a majority stake in Newcastle United, PIF also has a sizeable stake in Clearlake Capital, the owner of a controlling stake in Chelsea. PIF has billions of pounds in assets that Clearlake manages, although the 60% owners stated there was no Saudi connection when Chelsea was taken over.
Saudi Arabia is able to entice players with eye-watering sums of money in an effort to compete against Europe’s elite teams because they lack the infrastructure of Financial Fair Play. The prospect for much more spending presented by the inflated transfers has nonetheless left many baffled about what this development means for Chelsea’s spending in accordance with Financial Fair Play.
Why Chelsea are looking to offload significant number of players?
But Chelsea’s determination to sell such a large number of them to the Middle East is a sign of their precarious financial status. Boehly has invested more than £600 million in new players since taking over the team from Roman Abramovich. Therefore, the Blues must start selling in order to comply with FFP requirements. There have been recent reports linking N’Golo Kante, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Romelu Lukaku, Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, and Hakim Ziyech to Saudi Arabia.
It was revealed a few weeks ago that PIF had acquired the bulk of the stock in each of the top four teams in their domestic league, funding the recruitment of four foreign players to each of the four newly acquired clubs. The London club needs to unload players since its dressing room has more than 30 players.