Chelsea to start season without shirt sponsor despite adult website £40m offer
Chelsea are set to start the season without a shirt sponsor despite receiving a late £40m offer from an adult website.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are just five days away from their first game of the Premier League season, when they host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
Starting the new season without a shirt sponsor would be highly unusual for a club of Chelsea’s size, but the Blues are in no rush to sort out the issue.
The club has spoken to several firms over a potential sponsorship deal, though it’s unlikely a deal will be struck before the opening game.
It comes despite the club receiving an offer from adult subscription platform, My.Club, to become their new sponsor.
As reported by the Mirror, My.Club boss Mike Ford said: ‘We here at My.Club want to sponsor Chelsea as they look to improve on last season’s disappointment.
‘We want to have the My.Club logo emblazoned on the front of Chelsea’s jerseys before the club kicks off its 2023 season against Liverpool.
‘This contribution would work for both parties. For Blues, it will help to make perfect signings like Kylian (Mbappe). For us, it will ensure Blues fans have only two clubs to call ‘mine.’
‘It would be great having Mbappe, Mudryk and other Chelsea players sharing their training exclusives and hosting AMAs on My.Club, a platform for all creators.’
Despite having no shirt sponsor for Sunday’s clash with Liverpool, Chelsea are reportedly not concerned as they are focused on securing the best deal they can.
As reported by the Telegraph, the club’s CEO, Chris Jurasek, is in charge of landing a new sponsor and refuses to compromise on the quality of the deal, as he feels it could set an ‘unwanted benchmark’ for future negotiations.
Chelsea had hoped to find a sponsorship deal that was worth more than their prior £40m-per-year deal with Three.
However, their disappointing season in which they finished 12th and failed to qualify for the Champions League has made that a much more difficult task.
They had a potential agreement with Paramount blocked by the Premier League as they feared it would upset broadcast partners.
Stamford Bridge officials then engaged in talks with gambling firm Stake over a deal that would have been worth around £40m, but they withdrew from negotiations feeling it would not be the right fit for the club amid a backlash from fans groups.
Allianz, the German insurance giant are another company that have been linked with taking on the role this summer.
Three, were one of two Chelsea sponsors who decided to suspend their partnership with the club last year in the wake of crippling sanctions placed on them by the Government amid former owner Roman Abramovich’s close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Their sponsorship got back up and running when Todd Boehly completed his purchase, but their deal came to an end following the 2022-23 season.
