Chelsea: Joe Cole claims reported ownership rift 'will filter down' to ...

Published 14/09/2024 at 11:51 GMT

Joe Cole has suggested the news of a rift in Chelsea’s ownership will affect Enzo Maresca’s ability to manage his extensive squad.

According to multiple reports, Todd Boehly and majority shareholder Clearlake are at odds with one another over the direction of the club and are willing to buy the other out.

Private equity firm Clearlake was co-founded by Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano and the business is supposedly hoping to increase their 61.5% share in the west London club.

“I think that clearly at the club, it's disjointed,” Cole told TNT Sports. “There are different factions going on, and that will filter down. It's just the case of how much.

“The job of Enzo Maresca has just got harder, because all of them players, the 40 odd players within that club who are probably wondering, is my future at Chelsea? Is it away?

“There'll be a huge amount of uncertainty, and that just ramps that up with the fans, with the players.”

Chelsea have spent over £1.5 billion on transfer fees for incomings since Boehly and Clearlake took over the club in 2022.

They recruited 11 players over the summer, including attacking quartet Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Jadon Sancho and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

It was reported that Boehly was keen to keep former manager Mauricio Pochettino after Chelsea finished sixth last season, but was overruled by Eghbali and the club’s sporting directors.

“You need your ownership group to be one force, whatever that force may be, and often fans don't agree with the vision and where they're going, but at least you know we're going in that direction,” said Cole.

“With Chelsea, we don't know which direction we're going in, so that needs to be ironed out and sorted as soon as possible to give Enzo the best chance to get the results on the pitch.”

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And Cole thought the manner of the leaked rumours was indicative of a deliberate attempt to make the news public.

“For me, it’s more interesting where the source came from," said Cole. "It was like a financial part of the media and it came out that the two owners are trying to buy each other out, which suggests to me it's been going on for some time.

“Maybe there's been a lack of communication between the two parties, a split between the camp, and for it to come out then, in that form, for me, I think is quite purposeful.”

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