The civil war going on at Chelsea has already had a few flashpoints flagged up as vital on the road to where we are now, with the two groups of owners having fallen out to a point where it seems there can be no recovery.
We’ve heard how the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino was a point of conflict, as was the decision to bring in Tosin Adarabioyo and dump Trevoh Chalobah. HITC now claim to know of another inciting incident, this one more recent: the sale of Raheem Sterling this summer.
Sterling was bought by Chelsea in the early days of the ownership, when Todd Boehly was wearing his interim sporting director hat. The signing, in particular the vast wages given to the winger, was not a success. In the end, he was frozen out this summer and sent packing on loan to Arsenal on deadline day.
Boehly’s bad call and Eghbali’s solution creates problems
HITC claim that the situation was a “major catalyst behind the recent falling out.” Boehly was apparently unhappy with the way the England winger was treated.
“HITC understands that Eghbali instigated Sterling’s exit despite Boehly’s determination to keep him and this only enhanced the fallout which sources with knowledge of the situation believe is now untenable,” they go on to explain.
It’s hard to know who to side with here – the Sterling signing was a massive mistake, and it’s pointless to throw good money after bad. That’s especially true if it’s just a question of Boehly’s ego being hurt because his pet project didn’t go well.
But if your solution is to send him on loan to a rival Premier League team, and then buy Jadon Sancho anyway – is the cure really worse than the disease?
