Chelsea in advanced talks to agree controversial £40m deal – sources
Chelsea are in advanced talks with Infinite Athlete to continue their front-of-shirt sponsorship deal into 2024-25, sources have told Football Insider.
The Blues are under pressure to find a shirt sponsor for the upcoming season after starting the 2023-24 campaign with a blank kit.
In September – two months into the season – Chelsea struck a £40million per season deal with US-based sports data company Infinite Athlete.
The initial agreement was for Infinite Athlete to transition to a sleeve sponsorship deal in 2024-25 but talks are now at an advanced stage for them to remain as a front-of-shirt sponsor.
Ongoing talks are understood to be around the valuation of the deal – which was set to drop significantly if Infinite Athlete were reduced to a sleeve sponsorship.
Chelsea on track to continue £40m shirt deal
As revealed by Football Insider, the Infinite Athlete deal faced controversy with a number of Premier League clubs raising concerns about the valuation of Chelsea’s deal.
According to The Sponsor’s Fair Market Valuation, Chelsea’s shirt sponsor should have been the eighth-most valuable in the Premier League with an estimated value of £16.9million.
It is understood that Chelsea held talks with a number of potential shirt sponsors throughout the season – including US sports brand Jordan – but failed to finalise a deal.
The commercial team at Stamford Bridge are now working behind the scenes to have a sponsorship deal in place for the start of the 2024-25 campaign to avoid the mistake made by the club last summer.
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