Chelsea sold nearly half of its first-team players to Saudi Arabia, which calls into question the club’s participation in the summer transfer window.


Since the summer transfer market opened last month, Chelsea has been very active, offloading several of their best players to Saudi Arabia’s Super Pro League (SPL).

There have been rumors that Chelsea’s co-owner and private equity firm, Clearlake Capital, received funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).


PIF currently owns 80% of Newcastle United, Chelsea’s Premier League rival, raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest.

There have been rumors that a group led by Todd Boehly and including Clearlake Capital successfully acquired Chelsea from Roman Abramovich last year.
The Premier League reportedly acquired written guarantees that PIF didn’t participate in the takeover at the time.

According to reports, the west London club has to balance its coffers this summer after co-owner Todd Boehly’s administration spent heavily during the previous two transfer windows.

Kalidou Koulibaly, Édouard Mendy, and N’Golo Kante have previously left Chelsea for teams in Saudi Arabia, Al Ittihad, Al Hilal, and Al Ahli, respectively.

Hakim Ziyech’s £8 million transfer from Chelsea to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr fell through when a knee issue was discovered during the player’s recent examination.

Clubs in Saudi Arabia have expressed interest in Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Callum Hudson-Odoi as Chelsea is eager to offload the trio.
Romelu Lukaku, however, turned down the opportunity to relocate to the Middle Eastern nation in favor of signing a permanent contract with Serie A powerhouse Inter Milan, while Kai Havertz joined Arsenal, Mateo Kovacic joined Manchester City, and Mason Mount was on his way to Manchester United.

Since the Boehly-led group took over at Stamford Bridge last year, Chelsea has been substantially investing in new players.

The Blues are eager to generate money in order to meet Financial Fair Play (FFP) requirements and reduce the size of the bloated team that new manager Mauricio Pochettino inherited.

Since Boehly came over, Chelsea has spent more than $500 million on transfers, raising concerns about whether they are adhering to FFP regulations.
When it comes to his efforts to address Chelsea’s FFP problem, Boehly views the Saudi football revolution as a blessing in disguise.

The Stamford Bridge club will undoubtedly benefit from being able to operate without worrying about breaking any FFP regulations by selling players to the SPL for good sums of money.

By ensuring that football teams did not spend more than they took in, UEFA was able to both protect them from experiencing financial difficulties that could affect their long-term viability and enhance the financial stability of European football as a whole.