Chelsea close in on deal for Portuguese giants – representatives met in April | OneFootball

Chelsea’s ownership’s interest in buying a club in Portugal to add to their portfolio is well established. It’s a natural next step, with Strasbourg in Ligue 1 already part of the group.

Several smaller teams have been mentioned, but it seems that the front runner is now one of the nation’s giants – Sporting Club de Portugal.

Record in Portugal have today published a really big piece with a lot of financial details about a potential deal. It’s all to do with a complex restructuring of the club’s sporting departments (SAD) begun in 2014.

To give an indication of how well developed this idea is, it’s reported that Sporting representatives were at Chelsea’s Champions League game against Real Madrid way back in April, with “intense” talks taking place since. The fact that Sporting are still majority fan owned will potentially make things more complex.

Sporting are one of Portugal’s traditional big 3, and much like Strasbourg, their fans are unlikely to enjoy the idea of becoming just a BlueCo satellite.