Sale of Chelsea enters the final stretch

The four candidates to buy Chelsea will present this Thursday final offerswaiting for next week Raine Group, the American bank that manages the operation, decide which is the favorite to win the club.

The ricketts familyowner of the Chicago Cubs, the Todd Boehly consortium, Stephen Pagliucaowner of the Boston Celtics, and Martin Broughton, former president of Liverpool, are the four chosen They have a deadline this Thursday to present their offers.

All candidates are expected formalize their offers around amounts greater than 3,000 million euros (about 3,250 million dollars) and that these are injected immediately, without indebting the club in the future.

The top favorites were the Ricketts and Boehly’s groupbut the English press speculates that Pagliuca, who has received the support of other NBA leaders and Broughton, have increased their offers in recent hours to match their rivals.

Raine Groupthe company chosen by Roman Abramovich to manage this sale, will choose a favorite next week and present it to the Governmentwhich will have to approve the operation and grant the club a special license so that the sale can go ahead. Under the current sanctions, Chelsea cannot be soldin addition to the fact that it cannot operate, in other terms, such as in the sale of merchandising – its official store is still closed – or enter money through the sale of tickets.

If the process follows its logical course, the change of ownership of the club could take place at the beginning of May, with time still ahead to deal with some of the renewals, such as that of Antonio Rudiger, who, if he did not reach an agreement with the English team, would leave for free as of June 30.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich rejects first offer for $3,278,910,000; ask for more than 4,000 million

The sale of the club, one of the biggest soap operas in England in the last month and a halfcoincides with the elimination of Chelsea in the Champions League, at the hands of Real Madrid.

Thomas Tuchel’s set will play this Sunday the semi-finals of the FA Cup against Crystal Palace, with the opportunity to play in the second cup final of the season, after losing the League Cup against Liverpool. (D)