Stefan Borson: Chelsea have ‘thrown shirt sponsor deal in for free’, this is why it’s ‘bad news’
Chelsea currently don’t have a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal lined up for next season at Stamford Bridge.
That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the Blues should already be sending their kit designs off for production ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
Chelsea started this season without a front-of-shirt sponsor deal for the third year in a row, but it was confirmed last month they have agreed a multi-year global partnership with AI provider IFS until 2028.
However, the Sweden-based firm’s logo will come off the Blues’ shirt at the end of this season.
Chelsea have missed out financially after deciding not to agree a deal earlier in the campaign.
Why Chelsea should already have agreed next season's shirt sponsor
Stamford Bridge chiefs were understood to be looking for a deal worth £65million a year with a new front-of-shirt partner, but they have been unable to achieve that figure despite holding talks with various interested parties.
It has been speculated Chelsea are earning less than £5m from their agreement with IFS until the end of the season.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson discussed what the latest shirt sponsor deal means for the Blues.
“I think there's an argument to say it's actually a bad signal rather than a positive signal,” said Borson.
“What it means is that they don't have somebody lined up for next season.
“Because what you would have expected to happen is that they do a deal let's say now because this is the sweet spot of when you send the designs off to China for the production of the kit for next season, so that when the kit is released, it's got the correct sponsor on there and it's sold through retail.
“A big part of the front-of-shirt element is the brand getting the coverage from being on the replica kit.”
Why Chelsea's new shirt sponsor deal is 'problematic'
Borson insisted Chelsea have pretty much thrown the shirt sponsorship in for “free” as part of their deal with IFS.
“I would have expected that the new deal for next season would have sold the stub end of this season as part of the deal of kind of throwing it in for free,” said Borson.
“Instead, they've ended up throwing it in for free effectively into the deal that they've done with this IFS company.
“I think what it says is that they don’t have somebody lined up for next season for the full front of shirt, which is bad news overall and is problematic for them.”