Chelsea owners BlueCo are BUYING Neymar - and all his team-mates

Tom Weber

• Updated: 8 Sept 2025 19:17 BST
• 4 min read

News

Chelsea owners BluesCo are in talks to add Santos to their multi-club network, according to Brazilian media.

The Blues' American owners have shaken up the world of football since acquiring the Stamford Bridge club in 2022, be it by handing out almost decade-long contracts, finding loopholes in financial regulations or by spending well in excess of €1 billion on new signings in just three years.

Another trick, although not a novel one, employed by BlueCo saw them acquire French club Strasbourg in 2023, which sparked mass protests among the Ligue 1 outfit's fanbase.

Two years on, Strasbourg have become successful on the pitch but at the cost of their independence. This summer alone, six players have moved to Alsace from West London, while Julio Enciso arrived from Brighton with a view to later being 'promoted' to a Chelsea player.

The acquisition of Strasbourg has been an undeniable success for Chelsea and BlueCo, and it has unsurprisingly whetted their appetite for more.

BlueCo in talks to acquire Santos

South America has been the apple of BlueCo's eye for some time, with the Chelsea owners showing a proclivity to pluck talent like Estevao and Kendry Paez straight from the source and thus bypassing smaller European middlemen.

Unsurprisingly, the topic of potentially acquiring a South American club has been floated for some time. Back in 2023, embattled Argentinian president Javier Milei claimed that BlueCo had expressed an interest in buying a local club.

However, to allow outside investment, Argentina would first have to change the legal structure of its clubs, which are non-profit organisations. Last year, a court in Buenos Aires blocked Milei's 'anarcho-capitalist' privatisation attempts - for the time being.

With investment in an Argentine club improbable at present, BlueCo appear to have shifted their gaze to Brazil, and Santos in particular. According to journalist Lucas Musetti, talks have been ongoing for several months over a potential acquisition of the club.

Although discussions are at an early stage, there was already a face-to-face meeting in the US between BlueCo and the club's president Marcelo Teixeira in July.

Santos, of course, are one of Brazil's most storied clubs, having produced Pele and Neymar as their most notable stars. The latter currently plies his trade back at his boyhood club, having recently extended his contract until the end of the Serie A season in the winter.

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