Billionaire Boehly starts revolution at Stamford Bridge

In contrast to the secretive Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s new co-owner is taking centre stage in everything from

- Nizaar Kinsella

The £4.15 billion purchase of Chelsea FC has put its new owners on football’s equiva-lent of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame

A short drive from the famous Los Angeles street which has paving stone tributes to the stars of film and entertainment, the new era at Chelsea is getting underway in earnest.

Last night, with the Blues in LA on their pre-season tour of the US, Chelsea announced the £47.5 million signing of England star Raheem Sterling from rivals Manchester City. Sterling becomes the best-paid player at Chelsea, on more than £300,000 a week, and his transfer is just the start of a new dawn for the club.

New owners Todd Boehly and US investment firm Clearlake Capital have committed to spend £1.75bn over the next 10 years after securing the biggest-ever deal for a sports team.

The consortium that completed a takeover from Roman Abramovich in May is redefining what the club looks like — both inside and out.

For 19 years under Abramovich, Chelsea was a closed shop at the top. The Russian oligarch loathed publicity, gave no interviews and let his executives run the club on a day-to-day basis. Money was no object and his hire-and-fire approach to managers yielded the most successful period in the history of the west London club.

Boehly and Clearlake Capital want to continue to challenge for the biggest trophies but they want to do things differently as they bid to return Chelsea to the top of English football.

American billionaire Boehly, the man with aviator sunglasses, a shaggy mop of hair and chino trousers that are often matched with Converse trainers, has instantly become one of the most famous faces in English football.