Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe has broken his silence over his attempts to buy Chelsea and insists he is "not giving up" over his £4.25bn offer.
Ratcliffe retains hope of buying Chelsea despite being informed by the bank in charge of the sale that he is not being considered. The founder of petrochemicals giant INEOS confirmed an offer on Friday afternoon, two hours before it emerged that the consortium led by US businessman Todd Boehly was entering exclusive talks to take over from sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Ratcliffe has since been told by Raine Group that his offer was "rejected out of hand," according to INEOS director Tom Crotty, but he is pushing on with his plans and believes that he can be in place to step in should there be a hitch to the Boehly bid, which has been given until Friday to strike a deal.
Ratcliffe has been a season ticket holder at Chelsea – despite being a Manchester United fan - and he has been named by Forbes as Britain’s richest man. The 69-year-old has built up an estimated £20billion net worth thanks to his multi-national chemicals company Ineos.
He already owns French club Nice with continued speculation that he may invest in a high-end British club, with links to investment in Chelsea first emerging in 2019.
He has now spoken to BBC Sport for the first time since news of his £4.25bn bid came to light, and has said: "We had a communication with Raine and met with them at the end of last week. We presented a bid but have heard very little back from them. My message to Raine is don't discount our offer. We are British and have great intentions for Chelsea. If I was Raine I wouldn't close any door."
When asked about the timing of the bid and why it arrived so much later than others, Ratcliffe added: "I think that is quite simple - it is a big decision to buy a national asset and it's a big commitment in terms of time and money. We're there for the long term that's a lot of responsibility to take on and it takes time to reach a decision to be fully committed. We got there at the end of the day and we are committed. We're not giving up."
Ratcliffe previously explained to The Times in 2019 in quotes that appear to contradict his offer for the West London club: "Even though clubs have those valuations today, nobody has ever paid those amounts of money. How much did Abramovich pay for Chelsea, £100 million? The Glazers, what £500 million? You can say it's worth three, four billion but no one has ever paid those sums. Ineos has always tried to take a sensible approach. We don't like squandering money or we wouldn’t be where we are today. It's part of our DNA, trying to spend sensibly."
