Chelsea are experiencing a real rollercoaster in their first full season under new owners after transitioning from the Roman Abramovich era.
The new ownership consortium headed by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have showcased impressive ambition in totally revolutionizing things since arriving at Stamford Bridge.
They’ve spent over £600m in transfer fees over the course of just two transfer windows, helping the Blues sign some world-class players.
Despite the bright transfer activity, Chelsea have struggled to really get firing on all cylinders under Graham Potter and have won only three out of their last 14 games.
That involves a crucial win over Leeds United at the weekend, which could’ve saved Potter’s job.
They now face the task of trying to stay alive in the Champions League by defeating Bundesliga title challengers Borussia Dortmund at home and turning around the 1-0 deficit from the first leg.
Amid all the drama on the pitch, things have not been smooth sailing in other departments either.
Chelsea are also in talks to change things up when it comes to their sponsors and is reportedly ready to replace UK Broadband company Three as their major shirt sponsor.
Is Samsung coming back as Chelsea shirt sponsor?
Despite penning a £120m-a-year deal with the English company in 2020, the new hierarchy isn’t satisfied with it and wants to terminate the contract with them to rope in a more lucrative offer from somewhere else.
As the Chelsea owners keep their search ongoing for new sponsors that can have their names featured in their jerseys, some fans believe that the club might be teasing a possible partnership with Samsung.
In a recent TikTok post, the Chelsea account posted a clip with the caption: ‘Shot on 8K on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra!’
Normally, social media posts do not credit any particular phone brand for pictures taken during matches – so there could be something going on here.
It could be a brand promotional post for which Samsung paid Chelsea, but some fans feel that the club could be aiming to bring the South Korean brand as their shirt sponsor.
When did Samsung sponsor Chelsea?
Of course, this will not mark the first time these two have partnered together either.
Chelsea first announced a partnership with Samsung Mobile in 2005, signing a £50 million deal that would run from June 1, 2005, to June 2010. This deal even eclipsed the record-deal Manchester United had with Vodafone back then.
This agreement ran until 2008 when it was slightly tweaked for Chelsea to sport the name just Samsung on their shirts.
This deal ran all the way to 2015, which also included Chelsea extending the partnership with Samsung in 2012 to get a bumper £18m-a-season deal.
The London side ended their association with the Korean brand at the end of the 2014/15 season, because of a lucrative offer they received from Japanese tyre manufacturer Yokohama Rubber Company in 2015 – which saw them receive a bumper £40m-a-year in sponsorship money – more than double of what Samsung offered.
Has Samsung sponsored any Premier League team since ending the Chelsea deal?
However, Samsung has gone on to soar as a global brand as the years have gone on and has a net worth of around $460 billion right now – with a yearly revenue of $233 billion recorded in 2022.
They definitely have the finances to sponsor Chelsea and give them a bigger package than what was last agreed.
Chelsea are the only Premier League to have ever roped in Samsung as their shirt sponsor in the league’s history.
They aren’t the only English team to get sponsored by them, with the likes of Leyton Orient, AFC Wimbledon and Swindon Town also having the Korean brand as their sponsors in the past.
Samsung has refrained from sponsoring any other Premier League side after ending the partnership with Chelsea.
But this interesting recent update has excited a lot of fans, who believe that the brand can be the perfect one to replace Three from the front of their t-shirts.
Some supporters are also excited about how gorgeous their kits can be with the Samsung logo, paying homage to some of their better-looking ones from the past.
Boehly & Co are hard at work in trying to rope in new lucrative shirt sponsors and it remains to be seen if they can strike an agreement to bring Samsung back to the club.