Brazilian club rejects Chelsea’s Todd Boehly approach to buy them

Todd Boehly’s Chelsea owner attempt to acquire Brazilian club Santos was rejected.

Chelsea are exploring the possibility of buying other clubs around the world to turn their brand into a multi-club organisation, similar to Manchester City or Red Bull’s model in football.

The Blues are known to have sounded out options in Portugal, Belgium and Brazil to emulate their rival’s success in both fostering and stockpiling young talent.

Chelsea are now expected to re-group and look at smaller clubs in Brazil.

The approach will also signal the end of the ‘loan army’ used under Roman Abramovich to trade and balance the books to avoid Financial Fair Play (FFP) sanctions.

Chelsea released as many as 10 players for free this summer including the likes of Michy Batshuayi, Ross Barkley, Matt Miazga and Danny Drinkwater.

It is part of an overall vision for the club led by interim sporting director and co-owner Todd Boehly under the new ownership group with Clearlake Capital.

The news comes after it was claimed that the Blues had explored Portugal as their initial European expansion of their multi-club concept, with the owners aware that Portugal’s reputation as the most competitive league outside of the big five makes it an intriguing option.

The club’s proposed business model has been proven to be quite effective in the past, and this summer, the Red Bull clubs fully realized the benefits.

Benjamin Sesko of RB Salzburg was sought after by numerous European teams, with Chelsea and Manchester United showing particular interest.

He ultimately decided to sign with Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and will join them after spending one season on loan back at the Austrian team.

His skills were on display for Chelsea two days ago during the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.