Chelsea may fall into Saudi hands in the short term. GOAL reports that Mohamed Alkhereiji wants to take over the English top club from Roman Abramovich with Saudi Media. The investment group from Saudi Arabia has big plans with Chelsea and wants to rebuild Stamford Bridge, invest in Cobham training complex, make commercial steps and extend the expiring contracts of key players such as Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Abramovich announced a week and a half ago that he wants to sell Chelsea. The UK government’s decision to include Abramovich on the sanctions list and freeze his assets in the UK has greatly increased the rush to find a new owner. Chelsea have been given a ‘special license’ to continue playing football, but are not allowed to buy or sell players, hand out new contracts and sell individual tickets or merchandising.
At least ten parties – including English billionaire Nick Candy and an investment group led by businessmen Hansjorg Wyss and Todd Boehly – are said to have reached out to buy Chelsea from Abramovich, who was placed on the British sanctions list for a asking price of three billion euros. That asking price has dropped considerably due to the circumstances and Saudi Media would be one of the parties that would like to take advantage of the situation. The Middle East’s largest media group is led by Alkhereiji, who is CEO of parent company Engineer Holding Group founded by his father.
Alkhereiji studied and worked in the United Kingdom for several years and became a fan of Chelsea, a love he is said to have passed on to his three children. That would be the reason why Alkhereiji now wants to take over Chelsea. Saudi Media has an annual turnover of EUR 920 million. Not only through its media companies, but also through investments in the banking and sports world. The possible takeover of Saudi Media must be co-financed by a consortium of private Saudi investors.
Saudi Media is also involved with the Saudi club Al Nassr, for whom a state-of-the-art stadium has been built. At Chelsea, Alkhereiji has the same ambitions: Stamford Bridge must be renovated for an amount of 1.7 billion euros. This should make Chelsea more commercially interesting than the club is now. In that regard, having the Blues now lagging behind competitors such as Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. Saudi Media also wants to invest in Cobham training complex, so that not only the first team will benefit from the Saudi takeover.
Should Chelsea be taken over by Saudi Media, the problem that main sponsor Three has left immediately seems to disappear. Saudi Media is one of the largest players in the advertising market in the Middle East and believes it can secure a better and more lucrative sponsorship deal for Chelsea than the deal with the telecom brand. Three annually pays 47 million euros as a shirt sponsor of Chelsea, but no longer wishes to be associated with the club and therefore decided to tear up the agreement in principle about a longer cooperation.
Saudi Media thinks it can help Chelsea with its media companies to a larger fan base in an ‘untapped market’. The aim is not only to build the fan base in the Middle East, but also to establish regional academies there and use the women’s team to ‘change the perception of women’s football’. For the short term, the Saudi wants to extend the expiring contracts of key players. In addition to Rüdiger and Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen also appears to be leaving on a free transfer, although the Dane is reportedly close to a move to Barcelona.
Chelsea has excluded ‘politically sensitive parties’ from bids, but Saudi Media does not think it can be counted among them. Unlike, for example, the owners of Paris Saint-Germain (Qatar), Manchester City (United Arab Emirates) and Newcastle United (Saudi Arabia), Saudi Media has no direct link with any leader or government of any country. The British government has authorized the sale of Chelsea after it initially seemed impossible due to sanctions against Abramovich. The American investment bank Raine Group must find a new owner before March 18.