Majority owner of Atalanta and one of the four shortlisted bidders to takeover Chelsea, Stephen Pagliuca, has copied Todd Boehly by reportedly attending a Blues game in the flesh to make his intentions known.
Todd Boehly and the Ricketts Family seem to be the two frontrunners in this everchanging race with both consortiums having been shown Cobham already. The former of the pair was even pictured and filmed at Stamford Bridge watching on from the executive box as Chelsea fell to a first-leg Champions League defeat against Real Madrid. It was a move that went down well in the fanbase.
All interested parties have until April 18 to improve their offers as the Raine Group in conjunction with senior Chelsea figures prepare for the next phase of the new ownership search. Whoever is to win the race has a number of issues to sort out. But it seems as though Pagliuca has now followed Boehly's suit in watching Thomas Tuchel's Blues in real life and instead of the Real Madrid midweek fixture in which the part-time LA Dodgers owner attended, he waited a few days to travel to the South Coast.
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This is according to Goal's Nizaar Kinsella who tweeted: "New: Stephen Pagliuca is in the UK and is said to have attended Chelsea's 6-0 win over Southampton. He has been meeting with various stakeholders around Chelsea, including meeting Paul Canoville about diversity, inclusion & charity work. Very much a 4 horse race for Chelsea FC's ownership."
It now seems as though three out of the four interested parties have now met Canoville in regards to the diversity and inclusion work at the club and how they each are planning to continue the great work but as the former icon has admitted already in recent times, he doesn't have a preference as to who does takeover in the end as he aims to remain neutral. All four consortiums do have their own different plans but if Tuchel's wants and needs are to be met, the eventual successors to Roman Abramovich will need to show the same ambition as the Russian oligarch did during his successful 19 years at the helm in SW6.
"It is a huge amount of money," the Blues' head coach said at a recent press conference before the March international break. "That’s why I am also confident because I think if somebody buys a club for this kind of money then it’s about challenging at the highest kind of level, then it’s about trophies, then it’s about winning and it’s about being the best you can. It's not about developing a project, it's not about making money with the club."
With eight days remaining till the next deadline, two out of the four consortiums have now reportedly attended a Chelsea match in the past week. It remains to be seen if The Ricketts/Ken Griffin axis follow suit alongside the Sir Martin Broughton consortium with Real Madrid, Crystal Palace and Arsenal the next opportunities for the Blues.
