Todd Boehly conducted an interview over the weekend where the Chelsea co-owner went into some detail about his relationship with Clearlake Capital.
Back in September of last year, reports emerged over the club's two owners in Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, who is also the co-founder of private equity firm Clearlake, wanting to buy each other out of their respective sales at Chelsea. Eghbali has the lion's share of the ownership at Stamford Bridge, with Clearlake owning a 61.5% stake in the club, while Boehly has a 12.8% stake, the same as Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter.
Speculation over a fallout started with Boehly supposedly wanting a quicker resolution on a number of issues in west London while Clearlake were - and still are - prepared to be patient. In the months since, talk of the fallout has died down but a recent interview with Boehly has brought some of the noise back to life.
The American billionaire referenced the stadium plans as a big factor in what happens next with the club's ownership. Talk over developing Stamford Bridge has happened, but there has also been dialogue over moving to a new site. We are no closer to finding a definitive answer with all options on the table at the time of writing, football.london understands.
"We have to think long-term about what we’re trying to accomplish," Boehly said to Bloomberg over the weekend. "We have a big stadium development opportunity that we have to flesh out. I think that's going to be where we’re either aligned or we ultimately decide to go different ways."
Boehly continued: "The status quo is something that’s just fine. We’ve learned from each other and we’re going to be able to work it out any which way. If you look at the evolution of the team, we’ve been aligned on what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to build.
"It’s a team that’s young, it’s a team that’s got long contracts. All these things were new. Of course in order to do all these things we’ve done, it’s obviously because we’re aligned. We’re executing on a plan that ultimately will have Chelsea where it belongs. We’re sitting in the top four of the table right now."
Neto fitness boost
Pedro Neto played the full 90 minutes for Portugal on Thursday evening as they were beaten 1-0 in the Nations League quarter-final first-leg. The Portuguese were narrowly beaten by the Danes with Neto getting a third successive full game under his belt after featuring in Chelsea's win against Leicester City and then the defeat to Arsenal a week later.
However, something that will be pleasing for Enzo Maresca, Neto was not even included in the squad for Portugal's second-leg win against Denmark on Sunday evening. There has been no suggestion at this stage of any injury for the 25-year-old, whose minutes may have been managed ahead of returning to Cobham in the next few days.
Neto has been used as a makeshift No.9 recently by Maresca, who has not had many options in the central striker position following injuries to Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu last month. Jackson, however, is expected to return to action after the break, meaning Neto could return to either wing.
Huijsen transfer stance
Chelsea are interested in signing the highly-rated Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen in the summer transfer window, sources have told football.london. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a stunning debut season in the Premier League for the Cherries and has a queue of clubs interested in his services ahead of the upcoming transfer window.
That might prove to be an issue for the Blues, with the likes of Liverpool - who could well be crowned Premier League champions this season - understood to be in for the Spain international. Huijsen has featured 23 times in the top-flight for Bournemouth this term and has quickly become one of the most sought-after centre-backs in England.
Chelsea have a wealth of centre-back options to choose from, but some of their futures are unclear. Trevoh Chalobah being one of them with the Blues still open to allowing the Cobham graduate to leave in the summer despite recalling him from his loan spell at Crystal Palace back in January.
Amougou plan for next season
We have barely seen Mathis Amougou since he completed his move from Saint-Etienne over the mid-season transfer window. The 19-year-old midfielder was brought in with an eye to the future rather than the present - hence his seven-minute cameo against Southampton being the only time we have witnessed him in the first-team up until now.
There is a plan from the club to send Amougou back to France next season on loan. Chelsea are preparing to offload Amougou to Strasbourg for the 2025/26 season as they once again take advantage of their sister club. The Blues will be hoping Amougou can follow in Andrey Santos' footsteps, with the Brazilian central midfielder flourishing this season for the BlueCo-owned outfit.
George tipped for top
It has been a breakthrough season for Tyrique George at Stamford Bridge. The 19-year-old winger made the bench a handful of times for the senior side under Mauricio Pochettino last season but never came on under the Argentine. Things have been very different this time around, though.
In all competitions for Chelsea this season, George has featured 17 times - with the majority of his appearances (eight) being in the Conference League. George has showed his promise and potential, especially in recent outings, with some supporters even feeling his form has warranted a start considering Chelsea's struggles in front of goal lately.
While he has showed incredible promise, he is yet to open his goal scoring account for Chelsea, but that is something that will surely come sooner rather than later. Someone who knows him better than most is Saul Isaksson-Hurst, perhaps better known as MyPersonalFootballCoach. Isaksson-Hurst used to work at Chelsea's academy and helped coach George from the age of seven to nine.
He continued working with him on a one-to-one basis afterwards and still does to this day. Isaksson-Hurst also coaches Noni Madueke and the two regularly have chats about George, his potential and how the teenage sensation "has it all".
"I'm sure he won’t mind me saying he [George] wasn't one of the players considered top of the group at nine years old but academy football isn't about where you start, it's about where you finish," Isaksson-Hurst explained to football.london in an exclusive interview. "He always had potential in terms of his technical ability and athleticism. Most importantly he always had the mentality to work hard, this is testament to himself and his family.
"Tyrique has it all, Noni and I actually discuss him a lot and agrees. He has the technique and speed on the ball, most importantly he takes everything in his stride. He has very little ego and just wants to be the best version of himself. Ty has been given his opportunity now so he just needs to continue to take it and I believe he can do that."