Todd Boehly's Attempt to Sign Cristiano Ronaldo for Chelsea

Todd Boehly once tried to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to Stamford Bridge during the Portuguese star’s turbulent second spell at Manchester United – only to be blocked by his own head coach, Thomas Tuchel.

According to The Athletic, Boehly flew to Portugal to meet super-agent Jorge Mendes and left the talks captivated by the prospect of Ronaldo in Chelsea blue. With Ronaldo deeply unhappy at Old Trafford and edging towards the exit that would eventually lead him to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, the Chelsea co-owner saw an opening and wanted to move fast.

Tuchel wanted none of it.

The German coach, then in charge at Chelsea, made his stance clear repeatedly: Ronaldo did not fit the project he envisioned. While Boehly chased the idea of a marquee signing and the commercial pull of one of the game’s biggest names, Tuchel pushed back, firmly and often, against any deal for the veteran forward.

The disagreement did not exist in isolation. Frustration around recruitment had already started to simmer. Boehly failed to land several of Tuchel’s preferred targets in that window – Matthijs de Ligt, Raphinha, Frenkie de Jong and Presnel Kimpembe all slipped away, adding to the tension between owner and manager during a chaotic first summer of the new regime.

Raheem Sterling was the exception. That move caused far less friction. Boehly personally drove the negotiations with Manchester City, eventually sealing a £47.5 million transfer that at least delivered one headline arrival with proven Premier League pedigree.

Months later, Boehly publicly reflected on how raw that first window had been. Speaking at an event in February, he admitted his approach to the market lacked structure and expertise.

“I found myself stuck in the interim sporting director role over the summer, without knowing what makes a footballer good,” he said. “But I knew that if Manchester City wanted Marc Cucurella, then I wanted him. It was as simple as that.”

It was a striking confession from the man steering one of Europe’s elite clubs through a period of drastic change. By January 2023, Boehly had stepped away from the interim sporting director role, leaving others to define what – and who – makes a footballer good at Chelsea.