CHELSEA’s search for a new shirt sponsor could be set to continue after the Premier League launched an investigation into their new deal, according to reports.
The club have started the season in a sponsorless version of the shirt – which was unveiled at the beginning of July.
The shirt became available for fans to buy on August 16 with the original assumption being that a sponsor would have been sorted by then.
News broke at the beginning of the month that Chelsea were close to a sponsorship deal with US technology company Infinite Athlete – raising hopes that the team would kick off the season with a sponsor.
According to the Daily Mail the £40million-a-year deal appears to be in limbo with the Premier League currently completing a due diligence investigation.
It’s believed that the Premier League are investigating whether the deal represents “fair market value”.
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It matches the £40m-a-year the club were paid by previous sponsor 3, which was struck when Roman Abramovich still owned the club.
But doubts were raised over the company after it emerged that it had only been created a week before its sponsorship of Chelsea.
It also emerged that the company turns over just £12m-a-year which has led to concerns over how the company could actually afford the £40m-a-year deal.
Infinite Athlete was rebranded as such after the recent merger of two other firms, Tempus Ex Machina and Biocore.
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One of Infinite’s major funders is investment firm Silver Lake, who also invest in a company called Fanatics, into which Chelsea’s co-owner Clearlake have invested hundreds of millions of dollars.
Chelsea had been close to deals with two previous firms to become their new front of shirt sponsor.
The club pulled out of a deal with online casino Stake after a massive backlash from fans online.
They were also close to a deal with streaming company Paramount+ but a deal failed to earn Premier League approval due to concerns from the league that it would clash with deals it had with existing broadcasting partners.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
