How much has Chelsea been sold for? What did Roman Abramovich pay for Chelsea? How deals compare to Man City

LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly has been confirmed as the new owner of Chelsea Football Club just five days after the Government approved the takeover.

The 2021 Champions League winners were put up for sale in March after owner Roman Abramovich was placed under sanctions due to his links with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

A number of interested parties made bids for the Blues with the likes of the Ricketts family, a consortium led by Sir Martin Broughton and another group led by Steve Pagliuca all submitting offers.

But it was the Boehly consortium that came out on top and a sale worth £4.25bn has gone through on Monday 30 May 2022 with the American investor and private equity firm Clearlake Capital.

What has been said about the takeover?

After the announcement, Boehly said: “We are honoured to become the new custodians of Chelsea Football Club,

“We’re all in - 100% - every minute of every match. Our vision as owners is clear: we want to make the fans proud.

“Along with our commitment to developing the youth squad and acquiring the best talent, our plan of action is to invest in the club for the long term and build on Chelsea’s remarkable history of success.

“I personally want to thank ministers and officials in the British government, and the Premier League, for all their work in making this happen.”

Who is involved in the consortium?

Led by American investor and Philanthropist Todd Boehly, the prospective owners of Chelsea are made up of a number of parties.

Boehly and LA Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter have invested, as has Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.

However, it is believed the majority shareholder in the club will be Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm based in California.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the owners of Clearlake Capital ‘grew close’ to Boehly earlier this year during a bid for debt management firm CBAM.

How much has the consortium paid to buy Chelsea?

It is believed the Boehly consortium submitted an offer of around £4.25billion to secure the ownership of the Premier League club.

The takeover has been a drawn-out process due to complications involving Abramovich’s involvement and the destination of the funds.

The Russian - who was disqualified as a Chelsea director in March - was forced to deny he had asked for the repayment of the £1.5billion loan he gave to the club in a statement released earlier this month.

A spokesman said: “Mr Abramovich has not asked for any loan to be repaid to him - such suggestions are entirely false - as are suggestions that Mr Abramovich increased the price of the club last minute.”

How much did Abramovich pay for Chelsea?

There was an air of mystery about Abramovich’s takeover of Chelsea back in 2003.

Little was known of the Russian or his interest in the Blues until the takeover was completed.

Abramovich is believed to have bought the club from former owner Ken Bates for just £140million after talks over the deal lasted for around 10 days.

How does the sale value compare to those of other Premier League clubs?

Quite simply, this is the most lucrative takeover of a Premier League club - or any club in the world for that matter - in the history of the game.

For comparison, the controversial Glazer takeover of Manchester United in 2003 cost the Americans around £790million - although the structure of the deal provoked much criticism after the club were lumbered with heavy debt as part of the process.

Another American, Stan Kroenke, is said to have paid around £550million to take complete control of Arsenal and the Fenway Sports Group handed over around £300million to take over at Liverpool.

Sheikh Mansour parted with around £210million to take control of Manchester City in 2008 and the consortium led by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s controversial takeover of Newcastle United is said to have around £300million.