Recent revelations that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund maintains billions of pounds worth of assets under Clearlake Capital management have provided a possible pathway to understanding how Chelsea could be set to offload a number of stars this summer.
The market aggression showed by the Roshn Saudi League in its desire to target a laundry list of top names across Europe’s elite leagues has taken some by storm after Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté joined Cristiano Ronaldo in the Gulf state, while many other top-level footballers are in the league’s crosshairs.
But reports that detail PIF are the driving force behind recent big money moves for star names have offered a possible explanation as to why Chelsea continues to target the summer market despite the dark cloud of possible FFP sanctions down the line and a need to clear the decks of a large chunk of wages while seeing cash come in the door.
CBSSports’ Ben Jacobs offered insight into the connection between Chelsea and PIF, in what is rumored to be an excellent relationship, which was one of the leading factors that led to Kanté’s departure to Al-Ittihad.
According to information provided by Jacobs via his personal Twitter account, “With all these high-profile deals the [RSL] club is often selected quite late in the process, but the aim is to populate all four clubs with stars to create Riyadh and Jeddah rivalries with global appeal. Next season there will a new TV deals and an English highlights show is expected.”
“These transfers are fluid. Player input matters, too, but PIF, and the Saudi Pro League, are driving many of these moves. By the time the club president flies in, it’s often for final negotiation or even just handshakes and photos. This was certainly the case with Ronaldo.”
“A good example of this is also N’Golo Kante and Al-Nassr. They thought they had a chance for ages, and were even the ‘frontrunner’ at one point. But suddenly it was radio silence and they realized they were powerless to sign him. Now he’s joining Al-Ittihad.”
As such, there is a real chance that Chelsea could tap into their relationship with PIF to aid in their need to offload names from the senior setup under new boss Mauricio Pochettino after PIF is known to be targeting Blues assets to add to the league, with the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Edouard Mendy, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Kalidou Koulibaly all touted to feature on their wish list.