Clearlake Capital's stance on selling Chelsea as Todd Boehly 'in rift with co-owners'

Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake Capital reportedly have no plans to sell their 61.5 per cent stake in Chelsea despite newly-emerging concerns over the relationship between the club’s co-owners.

A Bloomberg report on Friday night claimed that Chelsea’s main shareholders are exploring if they can buy one another out with their two-year tenure having supposedly turned sour.

California-based private equity firm Clearlake, co-founded by Eghbali, are Chelsea’s majority owners. US businessman Todd Boehly is the co-owner with Eghbali, Jose E Feliciano and Boehly the three main decision-makers at Stamford Bridge.

Bloomberg say the relationship between Eghbali and Boehly has deteriorated due to a difference of opinion on several different matters.

The club’s transfer policy, their disappointing performances and results on the pitch and the lack of progress towards building a new stadium are key points of contention, it is claimed.

But the Daily Telegraph say that majority shareholders Clearlake have no plans to sell their stake. They would only be open to increasing their stake.

It is claimed there has not been any talks between Clearlake, Boehly or any of Chelsea’s other investors about a sale of Clearlake shares. The saga comes just two years after the consortium bought out Roman Abramovich for £4.25billion.

With Clearlake owning 61.5 per cent of shares, the remaining 38.5 per cent is split between Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter. They individually own a stake of a little under 13 per cent.

The Telegraph say Clearlake would be willing to buy any of those 13 per cent stakes should the other investors be keen to sell. But the American investment firm see themselves owning the controlling stake for well over a decade.

Bloomberg similarly report that Clearlake and Boehly remain committed to the Premier League giants and ensuring that the club is run professionally despite apparent friction.

Since buying out Russian businessman Abramovich, over £1billion has been spent on signing new players but so far there has been little return on the pitch.

Chelsea finished sixth under Mauricio Pochettino last season and only qualified for the Europa Conference League. Under Enzo Maresca this year, the goal will be to qualify for the Champions League again.

Such spending has made it hard for the coaches in charge under the current ownership. They have also seen the Blues agree to several controversial sales to comply with financial regulations, including offloading academy player Conor Gallagher last month.

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has admitted it can be difficult at Stamford Bridge with the constant changes.

The Spain defender said on international duty: “It’s true that it’s difficult, with Spain everything is much easier to create a good atmosphere.

“At Chelsea I try, but it’s a time of change when many players leave and others come. I try to give my best.

“One of the keys to success at the Euros was the good group we had. In these tournaments you’re together all day, we have to put up with each other and if we hadn’t gotten along it would have been difficult.

“Let’s see if we can achieve stability without many changes and so that the manager can transmit his ideas. We need stability.

“We have very high-level players and hopefully we can have the patience that is needed, that calm, so that everything goes well.

“We have the level, we just need stability and for the coaches and players to be allowed to work in order to do something important.”