Nick Candy is the latest businessman to signal a desire to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich.
The 49-year-old property developer, a fan of the club since four years of age, has targeted the expensive redevelopment of Stamford Bridge as a key part of his pitch to buy the club but does not have the funds to purchase the club alone and will need to form a consortium to be successful.
Abramovich has entrusted US firm the Raine Group with auctioning the club and a deadline of March 15 has been set for bids to be submitted.
The 55-year-old Russian said that he does not want to fast-track a sale but the deal is expected to be completed quickly. Abramovich is unlikely to get the asking price of £3billion because of a weak negotiation position amid the continued threat of government sanctions.
“Nick Candy is actively exploring a number of options for a potential bid for Chelsea. Any bid would be made in conjunction with another party and we have serious interest from several international partners," a spokesman said.
“Mr Candy has a huge affinity with Chelsea. His father was asked to play for the club and he has been watching matches at Stamford Bridge since the age of four.
"The club deserves a world-class stadium and infrastructure and Mr Candy’s unique expertise and background in real estate would be a hugely valuable asset to delivering this vision.”
The redevelopment of the Bridge would likely cost more than £1billion but playing in a larger stadium is seen as essential to ensuring the club can remain competitive at the top of the Premier League table.
Stamford Bridge's capacity of 40,834 means the club trail the rest of the big six in terms of matchday revenue.
At least seven other groups have been linked with a takeover and a consortium led by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss confirmed they had registered their bid yesterday.
