Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe has met with fan groups including the Chelsea Supporters Trust in recent days.
The founder of petrochemical giant INEOS remains a contender to buy the club despite the consortium being led by American businessman Todd Boehly entering a period of exclusivity as they aim to get a deal over the line.
On Friday INEOS confirmed their last-gasp bid to take over from sanctioned Russian Roman Abramovich - two hours before it became clear that Boehly's group, featuring Switzerland's richest man Hansjorg Wyss and financial backing from US investment firm Clearlake Capital, had been put forward as the preferred buyer by the merchant bank Raine Group, who had been overseeing a process that began in early March.
The Bohely group, who added former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to an advisory role, have been given several days to agree the final details of a record-breaking purchase of a sports club which could end up exceeding far more than £3bn.
Raine and the club's board must also apply for the terms of the government operating licence to be amended. The current licence expires at the end of this month but could be extended.
The Premier League will then run the group through their owners' and directors' test, a process that chief executive Richard Masters has previously said takes minimum 10 days.
Yet Ratcliffe remains interested in stepping in should the Boehly talks collapse and his team have been making moves behind the scenes in such an eventuality. "We can confirm we have held talks with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team but no further meeting is scheduled," a CST spokesman told Mirror Football.
That Ratcliffe has operated outside of the process run by Raine has raised eyebrows but should a significant offer be made directly to the club there remains a slim chance he could still win.
INEOS and Ratcliffe already possess an impressive sports portfolio, including a successful cycling team and a close partnership with the Mercedes Formula 1 team. In the summer of 2019 the company bought Ligue 1 club Nice for about €100m.
Ratcliffe has previously been linked with taking over Chelsea but in an interview with BBC in 2020 said that the valuations of English clubs was "a bit silly" and he had "enough on his plate."
The bid led by former British Airways chairman Sir Martin Broughton are also monitoring the situation in case Boehly fails to close.
