The Premier League are said to be unlikely to block a Saudi Media bid to try and takeover Chelsea amid Boris Johnson's visit to the Middle Eastern country.
Prospective owners and consortiums are scrambling together to try and submit their last minute bids to the Raine Group before Friday's deadline, with reports stating that the process of appointing the new ownership structure could move quickly after the deadline passes. It is already well know that the likes of Todd Boehly, Nick Candy and many others are very interested in being Roman Abramovich's successor to the helm at Stamford Bridge but the biggest offer so far that is being touted around is the rumoured £2.7billion bid that Mohamed Al Khereiji's consortium are prepared to place.
The Ricketts Families consortium with Ken Griffin and the allegiance being formed between the likes of Lord Coe, Sir Martin Broughton and Michael Klein may have something to say about that, though, in the tussle between all interested parties. Al Khereiji himself has said that he has no direct involvement by the Saudi state, but earlier this week CBS Sports claimed that there is support in finding funding and partners (but not financial backing) from Mohammed bin Khalid Al Saud. Any direct involvement from Al Saud would lead to a conflict of interest that would not pass the Premier League's Owners' and Directors' Test because a group run by the Saudi state is already in charge at Newcastle United.
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With all questions still largely blurred, Boris Johnson's general Saudi Media 'approval' regarding the importance of the relationship between the UK and the Middle Eastern country itself could potentially be a boost to Al Khereiji and co despite the issues that have been raised in recent days, with Eddie Howe and Thomas Tuchel both asked questions on humanitarian issues recently. Speaking in the United Arab Emirates, the Prime Minister said: "Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are key international partners…We have long, long standing relationships with this part of the world and we need to recognise the very important relationship that we have."
GOAL's Nizaar Kinsella reports that the Saudi Media bid would encounter less opposition that was seen during the takeover of Newcastle. The lack of direct state involvement would be more clear cut than with the Public Investment Fund, who purchased the Magpies. "Saudi Media, there is absolutely no state involvement.
"There is a parent company above it called Engineer Holding Group and then that also exists within another parent group called MBS. MBS is an investment fund which is a massive media group that is dominant in the Middle East and they have a little bit of Saudi government involvement.
"If you follow the paper trail up the tree, eventually you have Saudi money but I think that's how businesses operate in Saudi Arabia. I was told that connection that was mentioned with the government directly is not true. But if you follow the money around the company, you can eventually find public money around and PIF, the owners of interest, that would be a conflict of interest.
"I don't think there is enough for the Premier League to block it. It's less controversial than Newcastle's bid. Their owners test isn't the most stringent and it has come under criticism lately, so I don't think it's controversial enough to not make it through that process. It isn't actually as controversial as Newcastle's bid because it's not actually linked to Mohamed Bin Salman- it's quite far removed by the government."
football.london's chief football writer Alan Smith discussed similar issues on the latest show on Carefree Chelsea, but concluded: "It will be up to the Raine Group to decide. I'm not massively certain that the Saudi bid will triumph."
