Chelsea owner “obsessed with player trading” starts to lose PR war as fans turn towards friendly face | OneFootball

Civil war has not quite broken out yet at Chelsea, but battle lines are being drawn, and the two sides of the divide are getting their story out there are fast as they can.

The Athletic’s long read today has sources and quotes from all over, as Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali wind up their spin machines to try and persuade the fans that they’re the good parent.

There’s all sorts of interesting stuff in there, and it’s useful to compare it to what the public perception of the two figures are. While Todd Boehly is painted as someone who wants to “hire specialists and allow them to get on with their jobs,” Eghbali is the opposite.

“Obsessed” Eghbali trading like crazy

That’s something that will endear Boehly to Chelsea fans, relatively speaking. And not just because they think it’s wise to leave things to the experts rather than have a rich guy poking around making changes himself. The most distasteful part of this whole new ownership, for most fans, has been the buying and selling of players.

Much loved home grown stars are flogged off for mediocre youngsters, all in the interest of making a profit rather than winning trophies. In this piece, the blame for that is squarely put on Eghbali. While Todd wants to leave it to the experts, Eghbali is described by a source as being “obsessed with player trading.”

An Eghbali source hits back and says he’s just using his financial expertise to help out the sporting directors. But if you’re made uncomfortable with the idea of players exclusively being considered “assets,” you’re not going to warm to an owner who does so pretty nakedly, especially when their entire background is build on trading other “assets.”

It’s a PR win for Team Boehly then, at least on this battlefield.