Chelsea keen on investing in Argentina as Todd Boehly builds on Strasbourg takeover, country’s president claims
CHELSEA are keen to invest in Argentina, according to the country’s president.
And that could prove to be a major boost for manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Todd Boehly is keen to expand his football club portfolio in ArgentinaPA
Todd Boehly led the takeover of the Blues in May 2022, overseeing the £4.25billion purchase from Roman Abramovich.
His BlueCo company – the consortium with Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss – bought French outfit Strasbourg for £65million in June, with Patrick Vieira the manager of the Ligue 1 side.
And now it is claimed the West London side want to put down roots in Argentina, the homeland of their current manager.
As reported by TyC, Argentine president Javier Milei said: “There are many investments waiting, there are many international football clubs that want to invest in Argentina.
“I don’t need to say that Argentina is a cradle of stars.
“There is a lot of business to be done with the Argentine case.
“It could be representing investments of more than $1billion in a very short period of time.
“As soon as the decree came out, Chelsea was interested in investing in Argentina.”
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Ministry of Justice lawyer Mariano Cuneo Libarona added: “If you have the possibility of foreign groups investing in our football and disbursing $1bn, isn’t that good?
“You have Argentine clubs that cannot pay the electricity, that cannot buy a player and that are on the canvas.”
The Emergency Necessity Decree is understood to enable the fresh external investment.
And Chelsea may try and take full advantage by buying a club in South America, tapping into the gaffer’s inside knowledge of the area.
A new team could then act as a feeder club into the Blues, enabling them to snap up talent in the continent and develop them before potentially bringing them over to the UK.
Chelsea sent Angelo Gabriel to Strasbourg on loan this season as the sister clubs did business together – although Boehly and BlueCo are not universally popular among the French side’s fanbase.
Manchester City have a similar model with their City Football Group also owning Montevideo City Torque in Uruguay as well as ten other teams around the world including Girona, Melbourne City and New York City.
Arsenal, meanwhile, landed Real Madrid guru Paulo Xavier to head up their scouting network in South America.
Before any official links to Argentina, Chelsea are already trying to make a splash by chasing River Plate’s 17-year-old sensation Claudio Echeverri.
Should the Blues manage to beat off competition from the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona for ‘the next Lionel Messi’ Echeverri, he would link up with compatriots Pochettino and Enzo Fernandez.
Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Fernandez are the current Argentine links at Stamford BridgePA
