Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital set to battle it out for Chelsea ownership power

Chairman Todd Boehly and majority owners Clearlake Capital are both looking to take full control of Chelsea, writes Edmund Brack.

American businessman Boehly has reportedly lost faith in his working relationship with Clearlake Capital, the US private equity firm that owns a majority 61.5 per cent shareholding in the west Londoners.

It has been claimed that Clearlake does not want to sell any of their stake in the club and is open to expanding it.

However, Boehly does not want war to break out in the Blues boardroom and wants to buy out their share and is keen to see the situation resolved quickly.

They completed the purchase of Chelsea from Roman Abramovich for £2.5billion in July 2022 and have spent more than £1b in the transfer market, with Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk all signed in deals worth more than £85million.

The ownership have also signed Cole Palmer, who has been a massive hit since joining from Manchester City.

England international Palmer hit 40 goal contributions in his debut campaign for the Blues.

Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino have all been in charge during the past two seasons, with head coach Enzo Maresca joining from Leicester City in the summer on a potential six-year deal.

Behdad Eghbali, who co-founded Clearlake with Jose Feliciano, is said to be making the day-to-day calls at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea investors are reportedly ready to back Boehly, who has a 20-to-30-year vision for the club that would include a new stadium.

The Blues resume their Premier League campaign on Saturday at AFC Bournemouth (8pm).

CIES Football Observatory have compiled data that shows Chelsea have spent the most money out of any club in Europe since 2015 – a whopping £2.35b.

Manchester City have outlaid the second most over that period at £1.96b.