Chelsea's search for a new owner has progressed to four publically known groups putting forward their pitches to take the west London club off Roman Abramovich's hands. They must submit their final offers by April 11th, with Raine Group hoping to present the favoured group to the government the following week. The special operating licence Chelsea is working under can be amended to allow the sale.
Raine have informed Todd Boehly, the Ricketts family, Martin Broughton and a group led by Stephen Pagliuca that they must commit at least £1billion to invest in the playing squad and Stamford Bridge's redevelopment. 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.
Thomas Tuchel's work could be impacted more than most by changes in the Chelsea hierarchy. At this stage in the process, groups are set to meet the club's executive and hold conversations with supporters' groups and the like. Concerns have been raised over meetings the Ricketts family held before the shortlist was confirmed, facilitated by Bruce Buck.
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However, Blues boss Tuchel is yet to meet any group and is, in fact, reluctant to do so at the current stage. He said: "Not sure if I could even tell you the names of the consortiums and new bidders. It is my information that it is down to four and in the next weeks should be further talks and negotiations."
He added that there was no date set for a meeting: "No, absolutely not. I'm not sure if they want to, and I'm not sure if I should. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea. Maybe it's best to be involved – if I am involved – as late as possible."
Amidst developments that see protests against the prospect of a Ricketts family ownership, the group appear to have now partnered with Jefferies, a US-based investment bank. Sky Sports report the bank has been brought in to advise and potentially help finance a formal offer.
The takeover could be completed by May, but Tuchel has already acknowledged the extra layer of difficulty the circumstances have provided in planning for Chelsea's future. The Blues are unable to offer the likes of Antonio Rudiger a new contract and still see restrictions on the number of home fans allowed at Stamford Bridge this weekend. The German coach believes that the club will only find out later how much of an impact it has had.
He said: "It's hard to guess how much of a disadvantage. It's impossible though, that's why we don't do it. We focus on what we have right now and our next matches. So maybe it's an advantage because we cannot get distracted, and we deal with the disadvantage later when hopefully things are clear."
