Has Chelsea moved to the Saudi Pro League and I don’t know about it? In a span of a couple of days, Chelsea have seemingly lost four 1st team players to the Saudi Pro League with more players set to leave the 2X Champions League winning club for the Middle East.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mass exodus of players to one specific country like what has just happened with Chelsea.
With Chelsea facing a perilous transfer situation due to owner Todd Boehly’s misspending the last two transfer windows, the Blues have seen four first team players agree to initial terms with clubs in the Saudi Pro League for massive transfers as more are expected to leave North London for Riyadh in the coming weeks. And, even though I don’t have a problem with these players leaving Chelsea for the Saudi Pro League, I think there’s more than meets the eye on this one.
So, who’s leaving Chelsea for Saudi Arabia?
As of me writing this article, N’golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech, and Édouard Mendy have all reportedly agreed eye-wateringly high contracts with various clubs across the Saudi, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has also been in talks to join the Saudi Pro League.
Now, the exact terms and contract sums have not been released just yet for all of these players, but if these contracts are anything like what Kante got, then they’re going to be massive deals.
For those who don’t know, N’Golo Kante, a 33-year old midfielder coming off two years riddled with debilitating soft muscle injuries at Chelsea, reportedly agreed to a 4-year, €100M deal with Al-Ittihad, the reigning champion of the Saudi Pro League.
Yes, you read that right.
An injury-prone, 33-year-old midfielder, who was admittable one of the greatest of his generation with 2 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup title, 1 Europa League title, 1 UEFA Supercup title, 1 FIFA Club World Cup title, 1 Champion League title, The 2017 Footballer of the Year award recipient, 1 UEFA Nations League title for France, and 1 World Cup title for France, that hasn’t played regular, competitive football for the last two seasons just got paid €100M to play football for Saudi Pro League champions.
That’s insane, and it speaks volumes as to the contracts these younger, fitter players will receive for their, respective, new clubs.
Though, putting aside the contract talk for a moment, I can’t be the only one who finds it a little strange that every single Chelsea outgoing being linked to Saudi Arabia is getting completed in a timely manner. Right?
We’ve all seen the reports that Manchester United’s interest in Mason Mount and Arsenal’s interest in Kai Havertz has been meet with fierce resistance (aka: haggling price) by Chelsea and Todd Boehly, yet all the deals with Saudi Arabia have gone off without a hitch.
It’s almost like…there’s a “clearer line of communication” between Saudi Arabia and Todd Boehly’s Chelsea if you know what I mean.
Okay, I don’t want to sound like some unhinged, crazy conspiracy theorist here, but a little digging into Chelsea, Todd Boehly, Saudi Arabia, and the consortium that bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich a year ago now reveals some rather interesting discoveries.
Mainly, Clearlake Capital Consortium, the majority shareholder and de facto owner of Chelsea Football Club (Todd Boehly is a member of the consortium and the figurehead of the group), holds billions of pounds worth of investments from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) (aka: the Saudi government) according to the Daily Mail (the article linked details the connection further).
Now, I’m not saying that Chelsea are actually secretly owned by the Saudi PIF or are taking orders from the fund, but the evidence points to the relationship between Chelsea, Todd Boehly, and Saudi Arabia being far stronger than what most people would probably think.
Is that why these deals for Chelsea players heading to the Saudi Pro League clubs, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassar, and Al-Ahli, all of who are owned by the PIF, are going off without issue? I don’t know but it would make sense if true.
But what I do know is that the tendrils of the Middle East and its uber wealthy monarchs, governments, Sheikhs, etc. run far deeper in the world of football than many would be comfortable with.
Images Source: Featured Image:
Other Sources: (Daily Mail) (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-11085283/Newcastles-Saudi-owners-major-investors-Chelseas-new-majority-shareholder.html)
