Chelsea owner Todd Boehly makes takeover decision amid ‘new plan’

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly is reportedly looking to buy a club in Portugal.

The American businessman wants to create a multi-club model similar to Manchester City and RB Leipzig.

Boehly, 48, completed his takeover at Stamford Bridge back in May and is now looking to expand his footballing empire overseas.

According to a report by The Telegraph, he has been ‘holding talks’ about purchasing a team in Portugal, with Belgium mentioned as an alternative option too.

What has been said?

Boehly has previously said:

“We’ve talked about having a multi-club model. I would love to continue to build out the footprint. There’s different countries where there are advantages to having a club.

“Red Bull does a really good job at Leipzig and they’ve got Salzburg, both of which are playing in the Champions League so they’ve figured out how to make that work. You have Man City which has a very big network of clubs.

“The challenge Chelsea has, when you have 18, 19, 20-year-old stars, you can loan them out to clubs but you hand their development to someone else. Our goal is to ensure we show pathways for our young stars to get on to the Chelsea pitch —while getting them real game time. The way to do that is through another club in a really competitive league in Europe.”

Chelsea’s current situation

Chelsea have a huge pool of players and loan out a large number of them every year to teams across Europe.

This has both pros and cons for the London club but having a particular team to send individuals to, like City and Leipzig do, would create a more streamlined approach for them going forward.

The Portuguese top flight

FC Porto are the current champions of the Portuguese Primera Division after they won the title for the 30th time last term.

Sporting Lisbon, Benfica and Braga occupied the next highest places and that league has been a good breeding ground for talent over recent years, with the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Darwin Nunez plying their trade there before moving to the Premier League.