Todd Boehly held back £100million from his purchase of Chelsea amid concerns the club could inherit “unforeseen liabilities” further down the line.
Boehly and his consortium initially agreed a deal to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich worth a total of £2.5billion, with a further £1.75bn of future investment.
But days before the competition of the deal, it was agreed that some money would be held back because of the club’s financial complexities under Abramovich. Concerns were raised by the Boehly consortium, who are principally funded by Clearlake Capital, because of the speed with which they had to close the deal.
Chelsea have always made it clear they have never breached Financial Fair Play regulations.
A Chelsea spokesman said: “It is not unusual in these types of transactions, particularly deals completed in an accelerated time-frame, to withhold an amount related to any unforeseen liabilities that may arise from transactions that occurred prior to the sale.”
Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali are representing Chelsea at the Premier League’s annual general meeting in Harrogate this week, where they have met representatives of the other 19 top-flight clubs for the first time.
The new Chelsea owners are expected to give Thomas Tuchel £200m to spend in the transfer market this summer and have told the German he can take the lead on transfer business.
