Due to disputes: Chelsea owner negotiating sale of his stake

An uncertain future

Todd Boehly, the owner of Chelsea, has entered talks to sell his stake in the Premier League club.

The American financier and his business partner Mark Walter are negotiating to sell their stake to majority owner Clearlake Capital.

Any potential deal, the Financial Times confirmed, would help resolve the long-running tension within the club's ownership group.

Since taking over Chelsea in a 2.5 billion pound deal in 2022, Boehly and Walter have repeatedly clashed with co-owners Clearlake and Behdad Eghbali over strategy.

Clearlake own the largest stake in the Stamford Bridge club, holding 61.5 per cent of the shares, but they share control with Boehly in his role as club chairman.

Negotiations between the two parties have run on and off for years, the report added, though there is no guarantee they will reach an agreement.

The timing is awkward. Walter's business empire is facing regulatory scrutiny.

According to the allegations, insurance companies under his control lent money to related parties without disclosing the connection behind those loans.

Those insurance companies are now rushing to sell their affiliated investments or repay the loans.

Only last week, Walter agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to Disney chairman Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner for more than 9.2 billion pounds (12.5 billion dollars).

The sale came less than a year after he bought the basketball giant.

Since the American company's takeover, Chelsea have spent more than two billion pounds on signings.

Yet results on the pitch have declined, with the club finishing last season tenth in the league.

That absence from European competition forced a major shift in the thinking of Chelsea's recruitment officials. Out went the policy of buying young players, and in came experienced heads such as Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, both signed into Enzo Maresca's squad this season.