Even with Premier League football set to return this weekend and Chelsea preparing to take on Brentford, it's impossible to ignore the Blues' takeover. The process appears to have been narrowed down to four contenders fronted by Tedd Boehly, Martin Broughton, the Ricketts family and Stephen Pagliuca and a schedule for the process has been set.
A new owner is expected to be in place by the beginning of May, with the shortlisted groups set a deadline of April 11th to submit their final offers. The preferred bid would then be presented to the government a week later with the hope Chelsea's operating licence will be amended to allow the sale to go through.
As revealed by football.london, the government is unlikely to impose any hard conditions apart from ensuring Roman Abramovich does not receive any money from a sale. However, Raine have informed all four groups that they must commit at least £1billion to invest in the playing squad and Stamford Bridge's redevelopment.
