Premier League giants Chelsea have reportedly secured a massive £400 million ($492.22 million) in funding from Ares Management. The club’s owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are expected to use the funds to expand their multi-club model and develop a new high-tech stadium away from Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea Owners Are Interested In City Group-Like Multi-Club Model
Premier League holders Manchester City are one of the 13 clubs under the banner of City Football Group. Major League Soccer’s New York City FC, Indian Super League’s Mumbai City FC, A League’s Melbourne City FC, and La Liga’s Girona FC are some of the other top clubs under the City Football Group’s umbrella. Austrian beverage company Red Bull also has a similar multi-club philosophy and has already brought many top clubs under their umbrella, namely Red Bull Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls, and two more.
Chelsea owners Boehly and Clearlake took a step to build a multi-club model earlier this year when they acquired almost 100 percent ownership of Ligue 1 club RC Strasbourg. According to FourFourTwo, they spent £65 million ($79.99 million) to complete the takeover. Chelsea have already loaned Angelo to Strasbourg and the Blues are hoping for the relationship to flourish even more in the coming years.
As per ESPN, the Pensioners will look to use the funding from the United States asset management firm to recruit more clubs, possibly out of Europe. In addition to the multi-club model, Chelsea are also eyeing infrastructure development.
Chelsea Could Leave Stamford Bridge For New Stadium
Unlike many of their contemporaries in England and Europe, Chelsea do not have a world-class home stadium, and Boehly and Co. are eager to change that. According to ESPN’s report, the club intend to use the money either to give Stamford Bridge a major facelift or build a new home stadium altogether. The club’s training ground at Cobham is also set to benefit from the funding.
Before securing Ares’ funding, Chelsea already had received pledges from Boehly and Clearlake. In addition to their massive $3.08 billion purchase price, they had committed to invest a further $2.15 billion for the betterment of the club’s facilities.
