![]() Many within the game are now asking about Saudi influence on Chelsea but it has long been stressed there was no involvement in Clearlake’s 2022 purchase, and consequently no concern about potential conflicts of interest given the ownership of Newcastle United. Football officials have privately pointed to the strong relationship between Chelsea majority owners Clearlake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who have billions of pounds worth of assets managed by the American firm. It has raised a lot of chatter within the game as well as outside. Chelsea could clear a lot of players for big money, allowing Mauricio Pochettino a much cleaner slate to start working with. Now, a solution has suddenly presented itself. Clubs were going to go in low and well under the asking price, as Manchester United have attempted with Mason Mount. Everyone “knew they were coming”, to use the industry phrase. Throughout the last few months, the major question at Stamford Bridge, beyond the manager, was who was going to buy the players they needed to sell to trim the squad and meet Financial Fair Play requirements. It would represent quite the analgesic for what had been a real headache at Stamford Bridge. Among them are N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Romelu Lukaku, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech. Interest in Neymar and David De Gea is now well known, but representatives are also looking at Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva, and there are offers for a series of Chelsea players. Some involved see it as a key period for the Saudi Pro League in terms of keeping the momentum going by getting truly big players. ![]() High-placed sources say this week brings a lot of discussion between Saudi Arabian representatives and those of top players in order to try and convince them to join the planet’s most disruptive competition. There is suddenly a little bit of tension about one of the most ambitious plans in football.
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