Chelsea's £2bn Stamford Bridge development project is given a boost

Chelsea's hopes of breaking ground on their proposed £2billion expansion of Stamford Bridge received a boost with the agreed sale of crucial site next to the existing ground.

The club faced a number of obstacles to making the large-scale renovations under former owner Roman Abramovich, but funds for the ground's rebuild were put aside as part of the £4.25bn acquisition of the club by co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in May 2022.

A potential stadium relocation to nearby Earl's Court was ruled out in April 2023, and full focus has since been placed on making renovations to the current 40,341-capacity stadium.

As per the Guardian, developments could be moving in the right direction for Boehly and Chelsea's owners, after agreement in principal was agreed by the board of trustees for Stoll, the housing association which owns the two-acre site.

Mail Sport reported in October 2022 that the association - which provides 157 supported homes for armed services - had placed the majority of their two-acre site up for sale, with Chelsea expected to bid for 60 per cent of the land, equivalent to 1.2acres.

Chelsea’s relationship with the association sparked controversy in 2018 when we revealed former owner Abramovich made a secret payment to Stoll thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The charity then kept nearly 30 of its flats empty instead of providing homes for vulnerable former soldiers, a move which it is believed would have smoothed Abramovich’s plans for a new stadium.

Plans were eventually put on pause in the wake of Abramovich's scrapping of his UK visa application, and the oil and steel magnate's reported unwillingness to invest any further in Britain.

There is however a thread of continuity in