Many speculate that Chelsea’s chairperson and co-owner, Todd Boehly, recently traveled secretly to Saudi Arabia. He likely met with the sports minister and the director of football for the Saudi Pro League, Michael Emenalo. The goal of the visit has yet to be established, and neither side has confirmed the meeting. However, there is an assumption that Chelsea is planning to raise funds by selling players to the Saudi club.
Why Would Chelsea’s Owner Todd Boehly’s Visit To Saudi?
Recently, Chelsea announced they had losses of nearly 90 million dollars for the 2022/23 financial year. The timeframe for the loss ended on June 30th, 2023. This devastating news comes after the Blues reported to have had a loss of almost 120 million Euros in the previous season.
The losses are alarming for the club, and they raise doubts if the team will be able to stay in the Premier League considering their spending laws. The current Premier League spending rules stipulate that the EPL clubs cannot record losses that are no greater than 105 million Euros across the previous three seasons.
As a result of the loss, the Blues may have to raise 100 million Euros by the end of June 2024, and that may be the main reason why Boehly is having meetings with the Saudi Pro League leadership. In June 2023, Chelsea sold three of their players to the Saudi Pro League.
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3 Former Chelsea Players Who Joined Saudi Pro League Teams
- N’Golo Kante: He is earning 67.6 million Euros ($86m) per year at Al Ittihad. His deal is for four years.
- Kalidou Koulibaly: He is earning 30 million dollars per season in Al Ittihad.
- Edouard Mendy; He is earning 84 million Euros ($107m) per year. His contract is running for three years. He is at Al-Hilal.
Which Chelsea Players Are Likely to be Sold to the Saudi League?
- Romelu Lukaku: He is currently on loan at Italians. Roma has two years left in his contract. He has a 37 million Euros release clause in his contract, but that would not be an issue for Saudi Pro League teams.
- Kepa Arrizabalaga: He has 12 months left on his contract.
- Conor Gallagher.
- Armando Broja
- Trevoh Chalobah
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Conclusion
Chelsea has reported losses in their 2022/23 financial year that ended on 30th June 2023. Their Chairman, Todd Boehly, is doing all that is possible to keep the team afloat. However, the question is, even if they sell a certain number of players to make the 100 million Euros they need, will they still be within the Premiere League spending rules?