Chelsea’s ownership group remains intent on adding Sporting Lisbon to their multi-club network, The Chelsea Chronicle understands.
BlueCo – the patchwork private equity consortium consisting of Todd Boehly, Mark Walter, Hansjorg Wyss, Behdad Eghbali, Jose Feliciano and dozens of other Clearlake limited partners – were explicit about their ambitions to build a nexus of satellite clubs for Chelsea immediately after their takeover in May 2022.
They took 100 per cent control of Ligue 1 side RC Strasbourg ahead of 2023-24, and the two clubs have been umbilically linked ever since. There have been seven transfers between BlueCo’s outposts in West London and Alsace in total, with Mamadou Sarr’s £12m move to Stamford Bridge the latest.
But despite the French club enjoying one of their best seasons on the pitch since the 1980s in 2024-25, the relationship between the fans and the American owners is poor. Many Strasbourg fans believe that the team has lost its unique identity and is now little more than a subsidiary to Chelsea.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly looks on
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
BlueCo would inevitably encounter similar problems if their ambition to invest in Sporting CP, the 21-time champions of Portugal, is eventually realised.
In 2023, they were linked with acquiring a minority stake in the club as part of a proposed deal to sign then-Sporting defender Manuel Ugarte. Eventually, Ugarte – now of Manchester United – chose Paris Saint-Germain, who had earlier drafted a letter of complaint to UEFA about potential issues with the integrity of the process relating to Chelsea’s reported desire to buy shares in the Primeira Liga side.
At the time, both Chelsea and Sporting denied that they had discussed the possibility of an investment deal. And until recently, the trail had gone cold. The only link between the two clubs was the £62m double deal which saw Sporting academy products Geovany Quenda and Dario Essugo sign for the Blues.
Now, however, well-placed sources have told The Chelsea Chronicle that Chelsea are still actively interested in Sporting and have made contact with the club’s top brass.
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Chelsea owners had Sporting CP takeover bid rejected in 2024; deal possible after two-year cooling-off period
In early 2024, Sporting CP restructured a large portion of its debt by repurchasing bonds in Sporting SAD (the club’s publicly listed entity) from Novo Banco, one of Portugal’s largest banks. Novo Banco had originally acquired these bonds, structured as preference shares, during Sporting’s financial crisis in 2014.
That move increased the SAD equity owned by Sporting CP on behalf of its fee-paying members to just under 90 per cent of the total shares in issue, with the remaining shares owned by private investors.
Significantly, that opened the door for external minority investment, sources have told this site.
Chelsea’s ownership group are understood to have submitted a bid for a significant minority stake in Sporting during mid-2024, but the proposal was knocked back by the club’s management before it progressed to a members’ vote.
Abstract image of the Sporting Lisbon badge, Sporting Clube de Portugal
Photo by David Ramos – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
That triggered what one source close to the process described as a two-year “cooling-off period” which prevents BlueCo from submitting a formal proposal again until some point in 2026. It is not known whether the cooling-off period is a gentleman’s agreement or contractual.
Either way, The Chelsea Chronicle is told that Chelsea’s owners retain a strong interest in Sporting and are actively nurturing their relationship with the club ahead of the cooling-off period’s expiration in 2026.
The expectation is that they will table another bid, likely for a reduced stake compared to their earlier proposal, after that date.