Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly visits Saudi Arabia for meeting with Al-Hilal chief

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has been spotted in Saudi Arabia with the president of Pro League club Al-Hilal, who are now owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund.

Mail Sport revealed back in August that PIF, Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, are major investors in Chelsea’s majority shareholder Clearlake Capital, a concerning development given their purchase of fellow Premier League club Newcastle in 2021.

PIF are understood to have billions of pounds of assets managed by Clearlake, the American-based private equity firm who bought 60 per cent of Chelsea in a £4.25billion takeover last summer. 

Sources at Stamford Bridge denied any Saudi involvement in the Clearlake consortium – which is fronted by US tycoon Boehly – purchasing the club.

Yet after heading out to Saudi in recent days, Boehly was seen at a meeting alongside Al-Hilal president Fahd bin Nafel, whose club has just been acquired by PIF.

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly was spotted laughing and joking with a fan in Saudi Arabia, where he attended a meeting with the president of Pro League club Al-Hilal

Boehly endured a disastrous first season as Blues co-owner with the club finishing 12th

Mail Sport revealed back in August that Chelsea’s majority shareholder, Clearlake Capital, are backed by Newcastle owners PIF – who have also acquired Saudi club Al-Hilal

Also at the meeting was Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a well-known Al-Hilal supporter who sold a minority stake in his investment firm to PIF last year. 

Prince Alwaleed, who has a reported net worth of £12billion, signed an agreement with PIF to sell 16.87 per cent of his investment firm Kingdom Holding Co to the fund in May 2022.

PIF announced it will take control of four leading Saudi teams this week, also acquiring majority stakes in Al-Nassr – where Cristiano Ronaldo currently plays his football – and Al-Ahli.

The sovereign wealth fund have also taken over at Al-Ittihad, who are set to complete the signing of Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Mail Sport understands Kante is close to agreeing terms to join Al Ittihad, who also unveiled Karim Benzema this week, with a delegation from the club in London on Tuesday to iron out the terms of the deal, believed to be worth £86million a year.

Monday’s announcement said PIF will own 75 per cent of each team and establish non-profit foundations which will incorporate the club’s existing members.  

As well as attending the meeting with Bin Nafel and Prince Alwaleed, Boehly was also seen laughing and joking with a Chelsea fan in Saudi.

Boehly jetted out to Saudi to hold talks with Al-Hilal’s president Fahd bin Nafel this week

Also at the meeting was Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal (pictured), a well-known Al-Hilal supporter who recently sold a minority stake in his investment firm to PIF

Another Blues supporter also uploaded a picture with Boehly and put: ‘Today we met the owner of Chelsea, Todd Boyle (sic) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, specifically the capital, Riyadh. He assured us that the future of the club would be bright. Welcome to Saudi Arabia, Todd Boehly.’

Boehly took widespread criticism in his first full season as Chelsea co-owner after the club finished down in 12th place despite forking out £600million on new signings.

The Blues also employed four different head coaches throughout the campaign after parting company with Thomas Tuchel in September and sacking his replacement Graham Potter seven months later.

After Bruno Saltor enjoyed one match at the helm as interim boss, Frank Lampard took caretaker charge of his beloved club but could only muster up one victory in 11 matches.