The Reds have been focussing on Manchester City as their main adversary for the past several years, but things may be set to change and an old rivalry may be revived when Chelsea and Liverpool play each other on Sunday. Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez’s teams faced off in infamously boring but bitter Premier League and European matches, making the Blues vs. Reds match a true classic of the mid-2000s. However, the Athletic reports that tensions are rising once more, fuelled more by ownership than managers. American private equity firms own both teams, but they take quite different strategies. At Liverpool, Fenway Sports Group has done an outstanding job of hiring Jurgen Klopp, spending gradually, and winning everything through a deliberate ascent to the top. Todd Boehly of Chelsea and Clearlake Capital have adopted the opposite strategy, putting in every dollar possible to attempt to complete the renovation in two years.
The battles between the owners are now being fought on the football pitch. According to The Athletic, Chelsea is currently denying Liverpool scouts’ requests to attend their junior matches. Rio Ngumoha, a talented player from Cobham, moved to Anfield in the summer after this. Liverpool is now turning down Chelsea’s requests in return. granted that Ngumoha’s transfer “was given the green light by the Premier League after passing a five step review,” the Reds are perplexed by the circumstances.” They believe Chelsea is just being sour grapes and that they have done nothing wrong. All of this is a part of a larger division, as Liverpool is in the Premier League and Chelsea supported Man City in the most recent “associated party transactions” regulations issue.
- Though not all of this will immediately result in action on the pitch, some of it will ultimately trickle down.
