Sources: Clubs make formal complaints to Premier League about new Chelsea deal
A number of Premier League clubs have raised concerns about the deal between Chelsea and Infinite Athlete, sources have told Football Insider.
The Blues announced on Saturday (30 September) that they had signed a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with the US-based company.
It is understood that the short-term deal is worth £40million per season despite Chelsea not playing in Europe at all this season.
The value of the Infinite Athlete deal matches the valuation of Chelsea’s previous deal with Three despite it being signed after the season had started.
The Premier League took over two weeks to approve the fair market value of the deal, but they have still received formal complaints from other top-flight clubs about the validity of the agreement.
According to The Sponsor’s Fair Market Valuation, Chelsea’s shirt sponsor should be the eighth-most valuable in the Premier League with an estimated value of £16.9million.
Infinite Athlete’s ability to pay over £40million per season has been called into question, with reports suggesting that their projected annual turnover is just £12million.
The London club's ability to extract such value from the deal came as a surprise to many given that they lowered their asking price to £25million in July according to the Daily Mail.
Connections between Infinite Athlete and Chelsea’s US ownership have also been called into question.
Infinite Athlete is a recently formed company arising from the merger of Tempus Ex Machina and Biocore, which share investment links to Chelsea’s Clearlake owners.