The race for ownership of Chelsea has taken another turn, with two bids racing to the forefront of the reckoning.
A number have suitors have stepped forward since Roman Abramovich announced his plans to sell up, valuing the Premier League club in the billions. Despite the Russian being added to the UK government's list of sanctioned individuals, plenty of bidders have remained undeterred.
Now, though, the group has begun to thin. Unsuccessful bidders are being informed one by one that they're out of the running, and bids involving Woody Johnson and the Ricketts family are among those reportedly missing out.
Raine Group, the bank trusted with overseeing the sale, had set a deadline of last Friday for bids to come in. It has now begun the process of letting unsuccessful suitors know, one by one, that they have missed out.
After earlier reports suggested Saudi Media Group had fallen by the wayside, Sky News reports Woody Johnson is now also out of the running. The New York Jets owner, a former US ambassador to the United Kingdom, had been reported as an early front-runner.
According to The Athletic, property developer Nick Candy is also now out of the running, while the Financial Times reports that the Ricketts family - owners of baseball franchise the Chicago Cubs - will not be the new owners.
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It has been reported that alleged emails attributed to members of the Ricketts family, which contained Islamophobic language, had made some Chelsea players hesitant about their bid. However, while the FT report says the bid was "weakened" by that particular revelation, it is unclear how much of a factor it has been in them failing to last the distance.
"Our family rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms. Racism and Islamophobia have no place whatsoever in our society," a statement from the Ricketts family read. Joe Ricketts, to whom the alleged Islamophobia was attributed, is not a part of the bid itself.
"We have developed deep and abiding partnerships with the Muslim community in Chicago, as well as with all communities of colour. Respect for diversity and inclusion are central to our family’s values. If we prevail in our bid for Chelsea, we commit to the Club and to the fans that we will actively promote these values."
The latest developments leave two clear front-runners, according to the FT. One of these is the bid involving American businessman Todd Boehly, one of the first to receive media coverage after Abramovich's announcement, while the other is headed up by Josh Harris and David Blitzer.
Harris and Blitzer have invested heavily in US sports, and also took a stake in Crystal Palace in 2015. Their bid has the backing of Martin Broughton, the former Liverpool chairman during the Hicks and Gillett era.
investment firm Clearlake Capital is reported to be backing the Boehly bid, which also has the support of Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein. The successful bidder is expected to pay in the region of $3bn (£2.27bn) for the club.
