A high profile sporting organisation spending more money than it ought to in a bid just to stave off the competition, bailed out by the bottomless money pit of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). First it was the PGA Tour, conceding defeat in its battle to hold off the arrivistes from LIV Golf. Now Chelsea might be the next to benefit from Saudi Arabian spending on sport.
A laundry list of playres are currently working on deals that will take them from west London to Riyadh and Jeddah. N'Golo Kante's move to Al Ittihad is all but finalized, while senior representatives for Al Nassr are holding face to face talks with Chelsea Monday to agree the terms of Hakim Ziyech's transfer, according to CBS Sports sources. Personal terms are already agreed for the Moroccan international, who is set to double his salary.
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Kalidou Koulibaly is wanted by Al Hilal while Edouard Mendy is closing in on a move to Al Ahli, having already agreed personal terms. CBS Sports revealed a fortnight ago that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who 18 months ago turned down the chance to lead Saudi Arabia's football revolution when he snubbed Al Nassr, had been offered to Al Ahli and Al Shabab. The contingent might be even bigger, but it appears Romelu Lukaku would rather return to Inter than head east.
Four Chelsea players, then, are set to land at clubs owned by PIF, who themselves reportedly have "billions of pounds of assets" managed by Clearlake Capital, the majority shareholders at Stamford Bridge. Todd Boehly was in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, seemingly greasing wheels that have brought salvation in a summer that had the potential for disaster.
Having lost £121 million in the 2021-22 season, one which ended with the Boehly-led consortium buying the club after Roman Abramovich had been sanctioned by the British government, Chelsea went on a spending spree well in excess of half a billion dollars, yet built a squad that was not capable of qualifying for any European competition. Already placed on UEFA's Financial Fair Play watchlist last September, there was suddenly almighty pressure to get cash onto the books before the end of this month and the conclusion of the season from a financial perspective.
The sharks were circling. Manchester City have been working to sign Mateo Kovacic, Manchester United offered £40 million for Mason Mount and Arsenal opened talks to sign Kai Havertz. In all three cases, Chelsea's Premier League rivals found players they wanted but they moved at this exact moment in the conviction that these players could be secured for a knockdown price. Arsenal, for instance, are, according to club sources, surprised that Chelsea believe they can make back nearly all of the £70 million they paid for Havertz. United's opening offer was a long way short of what the Blues wanted for homegrown Mount. With none of that trio minded to extend their contracts at Stamford Bridge, it is still possible that Havertz, Kovacic and Mount depart.
What the emergence of Saudi offers gives Chelsea, however, is breathing space. Indeed, move on every player who is currently in talks with Pro League clubs and the Blues are nearer to a blank slate than they could have imagined being when they were casting first team players out into the training ground corridors because their squad had got so unwieldy. Not every consequence of this spending spree has brought delight to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea wanted to keep Kante even if any fresh terms would have had to reflect his chequered injury record. They would not have got close to the €100 million over two years that Al Ittihad offered to gain the Frenchman's signature. In subsequent negotiations that number grew even more sizeable.
In totality, however, Saudi interest in their players is manna from heaven for Chelsea. A conservative estimate of the combined salaries of the five players who could go to the kingdom is one that would wipe £900,000 a week off the wage bill. Two of the three highest earners would be moved on with big money instead going to English talent and high grade young prospects. Here then is a not necessarily complete list of players that the Saudi League has bought, is trying to buy, or is expressing interesting in buying. It notably does not include either Lionel Messi who they tried and filed to buy or Ronaldo who they bought before this transfer window.
- Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
- N'Golo Kante (Chelsea)
- Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)
- Kalidou Koulibaly (Chelsea)
- Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Chelsea)
- Neymar (PSG)
- Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton)
- Joao Moutinho (Wolverhampton)
- Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)
- Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
- Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City)
- Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
- Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
- Alexis Sanchez (Marseille)
In effect, Saudi Arabian money is jumpstarting Chelsea's latest rebuild, wiping away so many of the consequences of the disastrous summer of 2022, when the club hierarchy would claim they had profound doubts over Thomas Tuchel even as they bought players tailor made for his system. Boehly, Behdad Egbahli and the other new owners made a string of errors that ought to have profound consequences. They might not. Instead the Blues might find that their books not only look altogether less catastrophic, but that the money is there for the likes of midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton and even Victor Osimhen from Napoli.
That will inevitably prompt questions about the close links between Clearlake Capital, PIF and Boehly. One might contend that the latter was simply doing what any sensible owner would do in Chelsea's circumstances. There was an emerging market that could be exploited to benefit the Blues; rival fans that cry injustice at the Stamford Bridge exodus might well ask why their clubs have not been offering their Nicolas Pepes and Harry Maguires to the Pro League.
There is no particularly convincing explanation for why PIF, owners of Newcastle, should be so keen to help Chelsea out. How does it serve the strategic interests of the Saudi state to clear Mendy, Ziyech and Koulibaly off the Stamford Bridge books? It does not. However it does serve their interests to sign high profile players from top European clubs to add lustre to their league. Aubameyang and Ziyech, for instance, might have failed to deliver for Chelsea against their salaries -- and how much of that is due to the maelstrom around them last season? -- but they will draw eyes to the competition if they do make the move to Saudi Arabia.
It is not as if Chelsea are the only club whose players have been targeted en masse. Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo all have suitors who would like to take them from Manchester City to the Pro League while Luka Modric could have followed Karim Benzema out of the Real Madrid door if he had wanted to.
More than any club in Europe, Chelsea have lots of players who tick the Pro League's boxes right now, high profile veterans who could be swayed by a pay day and could be expected to significantly raise the quality of the on field product. The last 12 months engendered frustration and disillusionment among some in the dressing room, the sort of circumstances that make a big pay day all the more tempting. It stings rivals to see Chelsea saved from a mess of their own creation by nothing more than the coincidence of a league desperate for talent from Europe. For Boehly and his fellow owners, however, it is a matter of happy fortune that their catastrophic mismanagement of their squad over the last 12 months has resulted in a bailout from Saudi Arabia.
