Tuchel warns the consortium buying the club that they are already lagging behind in the transfer market
The British government’s approval of the purchase of Chelsea by a consortium of American financiers, to which a Swiss billionaire has been added, has already marked the end of the Abramovich era. Two decades of transforming a mediocre club into one of the most recognized in Europe will end with some paperwork in Brussels, Lisbon and London over the next few hours.
Roman Abramovich has a Portuguese passport and approval of the sale is pending, so the Russian tycoon did not profit from the sale of the club, under the rules of community and British sanctions for accomplices to the Vladimir Putin regime. Once the official permits are obtained, the next step is the transfer of assets.
The sale price is approximately 5,000 million euros. The buyers will have to inject money to continue to pay the club’s regular costs and enter the football player market. The buyers will have to rely on employees of the seized patron: the president, Bruce Back, an American lawyer who advised the unknown Abramovich on the purchase of the club, and two directors and intimate partners of the Russian: Eugene Tenenbaum, Ukrainian and Marina Granovskaia, Russian.
Although medical instrument maker Hansjorg Wyss was born in Switzerland, he made his fortune in the United States, where he lives. It has now joined as a partner of four US private equity managers. Chelsea will be the fourth of the top six English clubs this season to be owned by American companies, owners or shareholders of sports franchises in their country.
The Glazier family pioneered the purchase of Manchester United. Then John Henry and Stan Kroenke came to Liverpool and Arsenal respectively. Chelsea’s buyers are led by Todd Boehly, a shareholder of two Los Angeles teams: the NBA’s Lakers and baseball’s Dodgers. The other two are Manchester City, whose owners are from Abu Dhabi, and Tottenham, whose majority owner is Joe Lewis, a Londoner and taxpayer in the Bahamas.
More than half of the capital for the acquisition will be managed by California-based Clearlake Capital, according to the Financial Times. Like its associates, with the exception of Wyss, they are shareholders and managers of private equity funds that have experienced tremendous growth over the past fifteen years, encouraged, among other things, by regulatory and tax benefits related to corporate liabilities and conventional entrepreneurs. The two Clearlake partners are now trying to buy football-based Denver Broncos, in their usual financing style for two-thirds of the debt.
American patrons of English football are drawn to the fact that their clubs are estimated to be worth twice as much in a decade. They have distinguished themselves by making a profit in their management, unlike the Arab or Russian magnates, who, as in the case of Chelsea, City and now Saudi-owned Newscastle, seem to be led more by vanity than by greed. Florentino Perez can already count on between five and seven Premier clubs eager to participate in his Super League were it not for the government and fans’ rejection of it.
What to do with Lukaku? That is the question that may now reveal the dream of California’s “private equity” tycoons. The Belgian who grew up at Chelsea did not charm at Everton or Manchester United later on. Abramovich, who with ominous splendor has forgiven the club a debt of some £1,760m, paid £100 last summer for a player who is now depressed, lacking confidence or joy.
Thomas Tuchel was a genius last season, leading the club to the Champions League victory after arriving in January to take over from Frank Lampard. But this year the team is irregular. He does not appear to be in a position to enter the title dispute between City and Liverpool. Rudiger goes to Real Madrid, and Christianssen, more perhaps Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta, to Barcelona. The German coach has warned the new owners: “We are already too late.”
Source: La Verdad
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