Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly has reportedly visited Saudi Arabia for talks with key figures in the Saudi Pro League ahead of what is likely to be a busy summer transfer window for the club.
The Telegraph report that the American billionaire used the trip to meet with the country’s sport minister and the Saudi Pro League’s director of football Michael Emenalo, who was Chelsea’s former technical director.
Neither side have confirmed the purpose of Boehly’s trip which took place in the last couple of weeks, but speculation is mounting that the club will again look to meet their Premier League financial fair play commitments by selling a number of players to the Saudi Arabian league.
The Blues last week announced a pre-tax loss of £90.1million, but the report adds that many of the club’s rivals believe Chelsea must raise more than £100million before June 30 if they are to avoid any potential rule breaches. Chelsea are said to refute this.
This comes after Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy swapped Stamford Bridge for Al-Hilal last summer in deals that Boehly set up personally. Further moves for Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku did not materialise.
Other players named in the report that the club are looking to potentially move on include goalkeeper Kepa Azrrizabalaga, who is currently on loan at Real Madrid, Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, Armando Broja and Trevor Chalobah.
Chelsea are also believed to have held talks with Riyadh Air over becoming the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor next season.
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