New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly expected to attend first match since £4.25billion takeover

Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly is expected to be in the stands to watch the Premier League clash with Wolves at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, less than 24 hours since his consortium signed an agreement for their £4.25billion takeover of the club.

Eldridge Industries chief executive Boehly was in London on Friday night, before Chelsea made an official announcement at 1:37am on Saturday morning.

Chelsea’s home match with Wolves will take on added significance as it will be the first game attended by the American since confirmation that the sale would go through.

Boehly is expected to be in the stands when Chelsea host Wolves at Stamford Bridge

The announcement will be welcome news to concerned Chelsea fans after their club was thrown into turmoil by the Government sanctions on former owner Roman Abramovich.

Boehly’s consortium had been named as the preferred bidder to take over at Stamford Bridge by the Raine Group, the American bank who were overseeing the sale.

He has partnered with fellow Dodgers owner Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss as well as investment firm Clearlake Capital.

Boehly saw off competition from consortiums fronted by Stephen Pagliuca and Sir Martin Broughton and even a late £4.25bn bid from Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe had made a last-ditch offer to buy the club from Roman Abramovich

The sale, which will be signed off by the Government and the Premier League, ends a period of significant uncertainty for Chelsea after the Government sanctioned former owner Abramovich in March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Abramovich, who sold his shares after being sanctioned over his links to Vladimir Putin, attended his first game as owner for more than three years when Chelsea drew 1-1 with Manchester United in November.

The Russian had not been at Stamford Bridge since 2018 prior to the game against United due to complications with his visa.

Fears grew this week that Abramovich could renege on his promise to write off a £1.6bn loan and leave the Blues in jeopardy.

Boehly’s consortium had been named as the preferred bidder to take over by the Raine Group

The news, which came in the early hours of Saturday, will be welcome relief to Chelsea fans

Doing so would have thrown a major spanner in the works for any potential takeover, as UK ministers approving the sale wanted none of the proceeds from it to go to the Russian.

Instead, they were keen for the money to go towards helping rebuild Ukraine after they were invaded by Russian troops.

Chelsea confirmed in a statement that ‘£2.5bn will be applied to purchase the shares in the Club and such proceeds will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate 100 per cent to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich’.

‘In addition, the proposed new owners will commit £1.75bn in further investment for the benefit of the Club. This includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the Academy, the Women’s Team and Kingsmeadow and continued funding for the Chelsea Foundation.’