will announce a new sleeve sponsor worth £20m-a-year, in a deal that was agreed before the UK government imposed sanctions on the club.
Hyundai were the sleeve sponsors this season but suspended their agreement with the club when the sanctions were imposed on Russian owner Roman Abramovich.
report that WhaleFin, a cryptocurrency group, will replace Hyundai after agreeing the contract that will be worth a lot more than Hyundai’s which brought in £50m over four years.
The incoming owners of Chelsea, a consortium led by American Todd Boehly, have agreed the deal to buy the club for over £4bn, but it is still to be signed off.
The agreement with WhaleFin was made long before Boehly and his investors arrived in west London, but they will have decisions to make over the other sponsorships at the club.
Main shirt sponsors Three suspended their deal with the Blues and had demanded their logos be removed from shirts and around Stamford Bridge and the training ground.
The logos remained, but with one year left on their deal with the club, it is yet to be seen whether the company will stay as partners with Chelsea or the contract will be cancelled by the new owners and replaced with another sponsor.
The Telegraph reports that Hyundai’s relationship with the club may not be at an end and there is potential they could remain on board in a different capacity to sleeve sponsor.
Boehly and his consortium must complete their purchase by 31 May – when Chelsea’s temporary government licence expires – and that should be no problem, with the deal set to be wrapped up comfortably before then.
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