£4.25 billion changed hands! Chelsea and Abu, the breakup was an accident

Sports Big Business No. 2894, welcome to pay attention to the leading sports industry information platform

Wen | Zhang Bing

Sports big business reporter

Although the fate of a person is important, the struggle must also consider the course of history - the subject of this sentence is changed to a club, in fact, the same applies.

Before June 2003, Chelsea were just a club in the upper middle and upper middle of the Premier League. However, with the wave of economic globalization and the entry of Russian oligarch Abu, the club has become one of the most influential football giants in the world.

Nearly 20 years later, Chelsea have won almost every honour they can, achieved a Grand Slam, and Abu has become one of the best investors in the Premier League. And an unexpected conflict thousands of miles away brought the story of Abu and Chelsea to an end.

American giant Burley led a consortium of 4.25 billion yuan to acquire the largest shareholder is Clear Lake Capital

In fact, at the beginning of March, when Abu had just announced his intention to sell Chelsea, a large number of people from the capital circle and the sports circle were eyeing this "fragrant food". Among them, the "True Blue Man" consortium led by Chelsea star Terry, the Broughton consortium joined by Hamilton and Serena Williams, the Ricketts family of MLB Chicago Cubs owners, and the Saudi media group waving banknotes are among them. At the end of April, Britain's richest man, Ligue 1 boss Lacliffe, announced a formal offer for Chelsea for a total of 4.25 billion pounds, joining the scuffle.

On May 7, local time, the suspense was finally revealed, and Chelsea officially announced that it had agreed with the Burleigh Consortium on the terms of the acquisition of the club. Of the total investment, £2.5 billion will be used to buy a stake in Chelsea, which will be 100% for charity and will not flow into Abu's pocket through any means, according to the official announcement. In addition, the new owner has pledged to invest a further £1.75 billion in Chelsea, including Stamford Bridge, Academy, Women's and Kingsmedo, as well as continued support for the Chelsea Foundation, totalling £4.25 billion.

It is worth mentioning that this transaction still needs to be approved by the Premier League and the relevant departments in the United Kingdom before it can take effect, but the US investor behind the Burleigh consortium is not the Saudi gold owner who encountered all kinds of obstacles when acquiring Newcastle, let alone the Russian capital represented by Abu, and it is likely to get a green light, that is, the deal worth 4.25 billion pounds will definitely be completed by May 31. At this point, we go back and analyze the composition of the Burleigh Consortium, and we can understand why they are the winning side in the end.

The British media are unanimously optimistic that the acquisition will be passed quickly

According to a comprehensive multi-party media report, Clearlake Capital, Todd Burleigh, Mark Walter, Hans Jorge Weiss and Goldstein are the five major entities behind the Burleigh Consortium. Among them, Clear Lake Capital will become the club's largest shareholder, the U.S. investment company currently manages more than $72 billion in assets, provided 60% of the funds in this acquisition, has a strong strength, and is undoubtedly the "financial owner".

Among the others, Goldstein is a real estate mogul and one of the few British elements in the acquisition, while Hans Jorge-Weiss is a veteran Swiss billionaire who can provide some medical and rehabilitation support to the club. Mark Walter is the big boss of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has extensive experience in sports IP operations, and is also a partner of Todd Burleigh for many years.

Todd Burleigh

The last and future Chelsea "talker", Todd Burley, has long coveted Chelsea. Burley is currently the co-founder, chairman and shareholder of Eldridge Industries, and he is also the current interim CEO of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. According to Forbes, the American's net worth is about $4.5 billion.

Back in 2019, he had offered £2.2 billion to buy Chelsea, but Abu refused. Previously, in 2012, Burleigh joined Mark Walter, Magic Johnson and others to join the Los Angeles Dodgers with the highest purchase price record for teams in sports history at that time, and helped the team win the World Series championship after a gap of 32 years.

At the same time, he is also a shareholder of los Angeles Lakers and Sparks, as well as North American e-sports giants Cloud 9, with extraordinary capital operation means and rich experience in sports club operations. Arguably, as things stand, Burleigh and his partners are already the best successors Abu can find.

Premier League 9th U.S. boss, Glazer Vampire or Liverpool Revival?

Today's investors in English football include investment firms from the United States, businessmen from Europe, and capital from East Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. With foreign capital accounting for most of the totality, from the capital level, the Premier League has become an arena for world capital. (For details, see: Premier League exile abu, Russian capital "give way" to U.S. capital)

With Chelsea being acquired by American capital, there are currently 8 teams in the Premier League with British capital behind them: Brentford, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Norwich, West Ham United, Tottenham, Newcastle and Everton. The number of clubs backed by American capital has reached as many as 9: Chelsea, Arsenal, Villa, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester United, West Ham United. If in the past 19 years, Abu has regarded Chelsea as a beloved toy, regardless of cost, then with the arrival of American capital, many Chelsea fans have begun to worry about whether the club will become a tool for the new boss to make money.

Stamford Bridge welcomes a new owner

The good news is that the deal between the two parties includes an "anti-Glazer clause" that would prohibit the Burleigh consortium from "sucking blood" on the club by 2032 in the name of paying dividends or management fees, while prohibiting them from selling any stake in the club for 10 years and imposing strict limits on the level of debt they may be able to take on – perhaps Abu's last gift to Chelsea.

It is worth noting that American capital is not criticized by fans as Manchester United and Arsenal bosses, such as Liverpool, which has won a revival in recent years, which is a counterexample. According to British media reports, Burleigh hopes to be able to focus on Chelsea fans after he takes charge, at the same time, he hopes to improve the efficiency of transfers through data analysis, in this regard, Burley wants to learn from Liverpool's approach.

As we all know, Liverpool was acquired by Fenway Group in 2010. The owner of Fenway Group is also the owner of mlb Boston Red Sox. After following the "magic ball theory" and winning the MLB World Series through data analysis, Fenway Group introduced this theory to Liverpool. In recent years, Liverpool has won six championships in succession, including 1 Champions League and 1 Premier League title, and has become the object of countless clubs to learn from.

Of course, these are long-term plans, and in the short term, the upcoming offseason will be a big test for Burleigh. According to British media reports, at present, Burleigh's team is very worried about the expiring player contracts, and in the case that Rudiger and Christensen will leave the team on their own free bodies this summer, they hope to give priority to completing the renewal of contracts with Mount, Reese James and others.

Chelsea under Abu have become a Full Slam team

In addition, due to the sanctions against former boss Abu, the team's accounts have been shut down for a period of time, and many team partners, including shirt sponsor Three, have stopped cooperating, and how to restore the normal operation of the club before the start of next season is probably a top priority for Burleys.

Buying teams and forming leagues? Maybe Abu just wanted to be quiet first

19 years, 21 champions, 2.1 billion pounds... After giving so much for Chelsea and having experienced so much, Abu could only say goodbye to his favourite club with his bare hands. The thing whisked away, hiding deep with the name. Li Bai's description in "Chivalrous" may be the most in line with Abu's current state.

Chelsea won the 2020/21 Champions League

Abu is undoubtedly a lover of football, will he continue to invest in football after the first blow in England? At this somewhat sensitive time, the Russian media in Abu's home country showed great interest in the matter. According to Russian media NV sport, after completing the sale of Chelsea, Abu may acquire Russian Super League club CSKA Moscow.

The reason is that CSKA has encountered many financial problems in recent years, and the president of the club has maintained a good relationship with Abu. In addition, the Abu-owned Siberian Oil Company was a major sponsor of CSKA Moscow from 2004 to 2006.

Another Russian media outlet, Russian media INC News, said that Abu is planning to form a "Eurasian" football league, in which the participating teams will include clubs from China, Serbia and other countries. It is worth noting that the countries invited to participate in these programs are all countries that are friendly with Russia or remain neutral in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Chelsea fans are very grateful to Abu

But as you know, the fuse of the Abu selling team, that is, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, shows no sign of ceasefire, and after many peace talks between the two sides failed, it has a tendency to evolve into a protracted war. Abu, who has experienced the upheavals in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union, probably knows better than anyone the importance of keeping a low profile in a special period.

In 2022, under the dual catalysis of epidemics and wars, the world has become more and more unpredictable. Don't say Abu, even many ordinary fans are nostalgic for the Russian who waved his way in the Stamford Bridge box.

Note: The images used in this article are from the Internet