Chelsea co-owners Boehly and Walter consider selling their stakes

Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Mark Walter are reportedly exploring the possibility of selling their stakes in the club, amid growing tension with Clearlake's Behdad Eghbali. Boehly currently serves as club chairman, but under an arrangement agreed when the ownership consortium bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich for £2.3bn in 2022, he is due to be replaced at the end of this season by a representative appointed by Clearlake.

The change would mark a further decline in Boehly's influence at the club. He was initially the public face of the 2022 takeover and even served as interim sporting director during the new owners' first transfer window. Since 2023, however, Eghbali has emerged as the most influential figure at Chelsea, playing a major role in transfer business, while several senior executives have departed the club within the first two years of the new ownership.

Stadium plans a source of friction

Some sources close to Chelsea and the ownership group have downplayed talk of a rift, pointing to photos of Boehly and Eghbali together at major matches, including Chelsea's FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City. Nonetheless, the club's ongoing plans to either redevelop Stamford Bridge or relocate to a new stadium have reportedly been a point of tension.

While both Boehly's camp and Clearlake are said to favour moving away from the current site, they reportedly disagree over the scale and design of the project. Boehly alluded to this last March in an interview with Bloomberg, saying the club needs to think long-term about its goals and that the major stadium development opportunity would ultimately be an area where the owners either stay aligned or decide to part ways.

Chelsea, along with representatives for Boehly, Walter and Clearlake, have declined to comment on the matter.