Eghbali closes in on full Chelsea control as net worth trails Premier League's wealthiest owners

Behdad Eghbali is closing in on sole control of Chelsea after negotiations accelerated over the purchase of the remaining 38.5% stake held by Todd Boehly, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss, according to Bloomberg. The deal would lift Eghbali and his firm Clearlake Capital’s share from 61.5% to 99.9%, completing a transition that began when a consortium bought the west London club for £4.25 billion in 2022.

Eghbali, 50, has a net worth of £2.8 billion according to Forbes — a figure that would make him one of the more modestly wealthy owners in the Premier League, despite its scale in absolute terms.

At the top of the Premier League’s ownership wealth table sit Newcastle United’s backers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, whose assets are valued at £1.2 trillion. Liverpool’s new ownership structure, combining Fenway Sports Group with a Jeff Bezos-backed consortium, places second with a combined net worth estimated at £265 billion. The Anfield group is headed by former QPR owner Amit Bhatia, son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, whose personal fortune stands at around £22 billion.

Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour, once the undisputed figurehead of Premier League wealth, sits third on a personal net worth of £20 billion, with minority shareholder Silver Lake pushing City’s total ownership value to £24 billion. Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke — who also controls the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rapids — is estimated at £20.4 billion.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who holds a co-ownership stake at Manchester United, is valued at £15.2 billion by the Sunday Times Rich List, placing him ahead of the Glazer family, whose net worth Forbes estimates at £8.9 billion. Fulham owner Shahid Khan, who also owns NFL franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars, has a fortune of £14 billion built initially through motor vehicles company Flex-N-Gate.

Eghbali’s £2.8 billion net worth would therefore place him among the lower tier of Premier League owners by personal wealth, though Clearlake Capital’s broader assets as a firm add significant financial weight to Chelsea’s backing. The completion of the buyout would nonetheless mark a significant consolidation of power at Stamford Bridge, ending the multi-owner structure that has defined the club’s post-Abramovich era.