Todd Boehly is being paid an extraordinary amount of money to run Chelsea on behalf of Clearlake Capital, a report has revealed.
Boehly has an estimated personal wealth of £4.75bn and has been the frontman of Chelsea since the takeover nearly two years ago.
The London club is owned by the BlueCo consortium, which is led by Boehly and Clearlake Capital, who are paying him his mega-money salary, which Football Insider claim is around £20m per year. If anyone deserves it, amirite?
Boehly is the chairman of Chelsea and heads the board, consisting of nine directors including Clearlake co-founder Behdad Eghbali, businessman Mark Walter and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.
The consortium is said to have bought a 50 per cent stake in the club, with sources believing Boehly’s personal stake is around the 10 per cent mark.
They bought the club in May 2022 for a reported £2.5billion from long-term owner Roman Abramovich, who sold the club following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Boehly’s salary is more than any Chelsea player is paid by the club, and while those players have hardly deserved what they’ve been paid, it’s fair to say the American owner is more culpable for the club’s current strife than they are.
Chelsea have spent over £1bn on new players since Boehly and Clearlake arrived, with their investment – largely on young, experienced talent – taking them to a 12th-placed finish last season, with the side currently 11th in the Premier League.
There’s also been a steady stream of managers coming and going, with Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard all given a go, with Mauricio Pochettino the latest man under pressure at Stamford Bridge.
As a result of the club’s lavish spending it’s been reported that they couldn’t afford to sack Pochettino even if they wanted to, and the prospect of a lack of European football looks as though it’s set to make staying within the bounds of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules more than a bit challenging next season.
Qualifying for Europe through the league looks increasingly more unlikely, with the cup competitions the best bet for Chelsea, who take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at the end of February, and Leeds in the sixth round of the FA Cup after their impressive win over Aston Villa on Wednesday.
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