A Saudi Arabian consortium have emerged as a contender to buy Chelsea, with claims they have tabled the biggest bid yet — £2.7billion.
But there are doubts over a prospective takeover that would be mired in difficulty, with any deal needing the approval of the UK Government and the Premier League.
The League would have to be satisfied that there were no links to the Saudi ruling family or to the Saudi owners of Newcastle.
Picking through any Saudi-based consortium is likely to prove extremely difficult, which is seen as a major stumbling block to the proposal from the consortium led by Saudi Media Group.
Raine, the merchant bank which has been instructed to sell Chelsea by Roman Abramovich, is hoping for a quick sale and the Saudi bid is likely to be complicated. Raine has set a deadline of Friday for offers to be placed, with the consortium of Todd Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Jonathan Goldstein already tabling theirs, which is believed to be between £2-2.5bn.
Property tycoon Nick Candy also has funds in place to bid in the region of £2.5bn and could be joined by businessman Sir Martin Broughton as part of his consortium. He is convinced the sale will go through rapidly once Friday’s deadline has passed, telling Bloomberg: “This deal will be done way before the start of the new season.”
The Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs, and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson are also believed to be interested.
Candy’s determination to carry out a £1.5bn renovation and appoint a fan representative to the board makes him a populist choice, but the Saudi interest has the potential to leave his bid and others trailing in its wake.
There has been no confirmation of the £2.7bn figure, but their intention to buy out Abramovich is said to be serious. That places the Government and Premier League in a potentially difficult position and having to choose between the highest bid and the most suitable candidate.
Sources close to Saudi Media insist they are not linked to the state or the Public Investment Fund, which owns Newcastle, but they are fronted by Mohamed Alkhereiji, who has been pictured on a number of occasions with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Simply sifting through that bid could be problematic to hopes of completing the deal quickly.
Raine Group has asked prospective bidders to show proof of funds, with the ability to pay in cash seen as an advantage. The sanctioning of Abramovich last week, which saw his assets frozen, has disrupted the sale, which is why today’s deadline was extended to Friday.
Chelsea still do not have permission to sell the club, but the Government will allow a deal to go ahead if an application is made to alter the terms of the licence the club has been granted to continue to operate. That licence runs until May 31, which points to the urgency to find a buyer.
Chelsea today travelled to Lille for the second leg of the Champions League last-16 tie tomorrow, and manager Thomas Tuchel questioned Boris Johnson’s priorities after the Prime Minister called on Chelsea fans to stop chanting Abramovich’s name.
Tuchel has, himself, been critical of fans when chanting for Abramovich during a minute’s applause for Ukraine at Burnley. But he suggested Johnson’s focus should be elsewhere.
“I don’t know if in these times this is the most important subject to be discussed in Parliament,” he said. “If fans’ chants need to be discussed in Parliament, maybe we need to worry about the priorities of discussions there.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea today requested that their FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough be played behind closed doors after confirming they will be unable to sell tickets for the game at The Riverside on Saturday.
