More than a 100 bid to buy Chelsea 

Sources claim at least one bidder has matched Abramovich’s valuation of £3 billion

More than a 100 bid to buy Chelsea 
Chelsea sale

The field for the race to buy Chelsea will be reduced to no more than three preferred bidders by early next week, according to sources close to the process.

The New York bank appointed by Roman Abramovich to find a new owner set a deadline of Friday for bids, with more than 100 parties said to be interested in acquiring the European and Club World Cup champions.

The government is understood to have advised Chelsea that the quickest way of achieving a sale is for Abramovich to agree that the proceeds of the sale will be put into a frozen third-party or escrow account before it is distributed to good causes.

That would help accelerate approval for a special sale licence once it has been submitted by the club. Abramovich had previously committed to donating the proceeds to help the victims of the war in Ukraine but as a result of his sanctioning, he would not be able to have any influence over the destination of the money.

Several consortiums have been enlisting high-profile Chelsea fans to back their bids.

It was confirmed that Michael Klein, a prominent American investment banker, and Creative Artists Agency, the US talent management agency, are behind a bid being fronted by Lord Coe and Sir Martin Broughton, the former chairman of British Airways who was briefly the chairman of Liverpool before brokering the Fenway takeover at Anfield in 2010.

The Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs baseball team, are also considered serious contenders given the wealth of their bid partner, Kenneth Griffin. The American fund manager has a personal fortune of more than £20 billion.

But some insiders still believe that the consortium comprising the LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly, the London property tycoon Jonathan Goldstein and the Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss remains a leading bid.

They have had their ownership proposal in place for some time, having expressed an interest in buying Chelsea in the past and have already tabled a bid approaching £2.5 billion.

Sources claim at least one bidder has matched Abramovich’s valuation of £3 billion, but the Boehly group believe that their stewardship of the Dodgers and their expertise in property development — given the need to rebuild Stamford Bridge — makes them an attractive proposition.



Meanwhile, the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) has backed the Chelsea fans’ trust in calling for supporters to be given shares in the club.

Tim Payton of the AST said: “The football world will be watching how the government proceeds. It can send an important statement of intent to fans of every club, and how it will proceed with implementing the fan-led review of football governance, by demonstrating that football really is the people’s game.

“Football clubs are far too important to be owned by any one person or entity, be it a nation-state, oligarch or profit-seeking investor.”