Incoming Chelsea Owner Boehly visits training ground
Chelsea ladies manager Emma Hayes has revealed that new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly made their first contact on a visit to his Cobham training ground, and believes he is a perfect fit for the club after having lunch with the American on Friday.
Like Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea Women manager Hayes is currently unable to sign or speak to any new players due to government sanctions placed on the club.
Tuchel has said earlier that he has not yet met Boehly, or spoken to him, but, given his visit to Cobham on Friday, it is likely he will have met him on Friday as well.
Hayes sat down with LA Dodgers owner Boehly before his team’s FA Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday and discussions about the future were overwhelmingly positive.
“I had lunch with Todd,” Hayes revealed. ‘He watched the girls train, I had a really lovely couple of hours with him.
‘[He was] charming, really passionate, he’s a down to earth regular guy, really passionate about Chelsea, loves Chelsea.
He’s ambitious, like us, and he’s a perfect fit. I saw him at one of the games he went to at Stamford Bridge, but he was up and I was down!
Chelsea are seeking a league and cup double on Sunday and will have Fran Kirby available for the first time since February.
The striker has overcome a fatigue-related illness to put herself in contention for the final game of the season at Wembley.
“We have a full team to choose from, including Fran Kirby, so we are in a much better position than we were before the Conti Cup final,” Hayes said.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on her because I love that girl and she’s been through a lot but it seemed like she hadn’t been away, she looked so good in training and it’s nice to see the smile on her face.
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‘She has participated in everything when we said at the beginning of the week ‘let’s see how it goes’.
“Let’s do a session, day one, and she came out of it and said it’s not enough, then we did day two and I told her use you as a neutral or play half a game block and she was like, ‘I’m fine. ” She’s been training really well so I’m over the moon to be honest.