Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is looking to expand his football club portfolio, with a Portuguese club catching his eye.
Reports state that the American businessman is currently in talks to buy Portimonense Sporting Club in Portugal. Boehly, along with his partners, are also co-owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) and the Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA).
The Portuguese club is currently fourth in the Primeira Liga standings. Founded over 100 years ago, Portimonense have never won a top division title or significant trophy. However, they did reach European competition once in the 1980s. Portimonense were knocked out of the UEFA Cup, now called the Europa League, by Partizan 4–1 on aggregate.
Boehly made headlines earlier in the month when he suggested bringing an All-Star game to the Premier League. But perhaps lost in the commotion surrounding the bold statement was his plan to buy other European football clubs.
“We’ve talked about having a multi-club model,” Boehly said at the same conference where he spoke about the All-Star Game. “I would love to continue building the footprint. There are different countries where there are advantages to having a club. Red Bull does a good job. Manchester City has a great network of clubs.”
Todd Boehly linked with Portuguese club
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The businessman claimed that he wanted to buy additional equipment to essentially create a power system for Chelsea. “Our goal is to secure avenues for our young stars to get onto the Chelsea pitch while getting real playing time. Doing that is through another club in a really competitive league in Europe.”
Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes has become an adviser to Chelsea to help choose a club to buy in his homeland. Boehly and company may not finish after potentially buying Portimonense either. The Evening Standard also suggests that the new regime is looking at its options to acquire a club in Belgium as well.
Boehly has already been recently rejected by the owners of Santos (Brazil) and Sochaux (France) in attempts to buy the clubs.
While European teams are a clear target for Boehly, a possible purchase of a Brazilian club is also still on the cards. Young players plying their trade in the South American country apparently have more time to qualify for pesky work permits.
PHOTO: IMAGO / PRIME Media Images
