British businessman bids £4.25bn for Chelsea

In the takeover poker for Champions League winners FC Chelsea, the next interested party has thrown his hat in the ring. The billionaire British businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made an offer for 4.25 billion pounds (equivalent to a good 5 billion euros).

So far, a purchase price of around 2.5 billion pounds (a good 2.95 billion euros) was assumed. Former club owner Roman Abramovich announced a few days after Russia’s attack on Ukraine that he wanted to sell Chelsea. The British government recently imposed sanctions on the Russian oligarch. The government wants to ensure that Abramovich does not personally benefit from the sale.

The club of team manager Thomas Tuchel is currently playing with a special license from the government. Most recently, Antonio Rüdiger announced his departure in the summer. “The club and I gave everything, but we couldn’t keep fighting because of the sanctions,” said Tuchel: “Without the sanctions we could at least have kept fighting, but our hands are tied.”