Driver Lewis Hamilton and tennis player Serena Williams are in talks to invest in the purchase of English football giant Chelsea. This information was released by British broadcaster “Sky Sports” this Thursday. The news is that the sport’s two stars would be willing to invest £20 million (about R$121.1 million) in a project presented by businessman Martin Broughton to buy the London club.
Broughton, the chairman of British Airways and the former chairman of Liverpool, is one of four candidates for the position of new owner of Chelsea, put up for sale by the oligarch Roman Abramovich, who has been sacked by Vladimir Putin in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The relationship was targeted by UK sanctions.
According to “Sky”, Hamilton and Williams have been talking with Broughton for weeks about the possibility of investing £10 million each in a consortium led by the British businessman. The group already has other strong investors, such as Sebastian Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and Olympic champions.
Hamilton’s representatives confirmed to Reuters news agency that Mercedes has agreed to participate in the driver consortium, but the figures disclosed are not accurate, without giving more details. In turn, Serena Williams has not released any official position on the matter. The tennis player, champion of 23 Grand Slams, is already a part of the business world, as she is an investor in the Angel City FC women’s football team.
The proposal, articulated by Broughton, gains traction with the presence of the sport’s stars, but Chelsea’s competition to acquire it is strong. The Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, one of the top baseball franchises in America, is one of the candidates. Also in the fray are Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehley and Boston Celtics and Atalanta shareholder Steve Pagluka.
