Chelsea are reportedly plotting a new Saudi Arabian deal after continuing talks with Riyadh Air over a front-of-shirt sponsorship from next season, which could land the Blues £60million per year. The west London giants have endured a difficult start to the season but climbed to 11th in the Premier League table on Saturday after thrashing Burnley 4-1 at Turf Moor.
Chelsea suffered the ignominy of going into the current season without a front-of-shirt sponsor after talks with a number of companies proved fruitless. But they finally agreed a one-year deal with Infinite Athlete at the end of last month.
According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea are determined to avoid a repeat of not having a sponsor going into the next campaign and are optimistic that a multi-year deal to cover the men’s and women’s teams can be agreed with the Saudi airline.
The Blues’ current front-of-shirt sponsorship is worth £40m, and Riyadh Air have insisted that the value of their deal would only match that figure should Chelsea miss out on a European spot at the end of this season.
Chelsea have already done business in Saudi Arabia in recent months after selling defender Kalidou Koulibaly to Al-Hilal and offloading goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to Al-Ahli during the summer transfer window. And there could be another Saudi deal on the cards if Boehly gets his way with Riyadh Air.
Chelsea were forced to come from behind during their showdown with Burnley as Wilson Odobert opened the scoring for the hosts after 15 minutes. Ameen Al-Dakhil diverted a Raheem Sterling cross into his own net just before the interval, before Cole Palmer nudged the visitors ahead from the penalty spot five minutes into the second half. Sterling soon got his name on the scoresheet as well, before Nicolas Jackson rounded the game off for the Blues with a fourth strike.
“The team was good, the performance was fantastic, I think they deserve the whole credit,” explained Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino after the match. “We are so happy for them and go into the international break with a different feeling than the last break.
“We will spend it trying to improve players. Try to recover players from injury. We have two weeks which we are going to spend working at the training ground. Of course it’s a different mood to the break last month because to go into it with a victory is much better. But we will keep pushing and working hard to try to be better next month.”
