- Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich saw his assets frozen, throwing the pending sale of the club into disarray
- British property tycoon Nick Candy remains interested, while bidders are preparing bids in excess of £2billion
- Shirt sponsors Three suspended £40million deal with the club, while Nike consider ending their agreements
- Blues chiefs held talks with Government to lessen the impact of stringent restrictions placed on the club
- Chelsea were told they cannot renew contracts or sign any new players
Chelsea are in turmoil after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK over his links to Vladimir Putin, plunging the club’s future into doubt.
The dramatic news on Thursday effectively means the Russian-born billionaire oligarch can no longer press ahead with selling the club.
However, Chelsea can request special dispensation, which would be considered if the Government views a change of ownership in the best interests of the club, provided it does not benefit Abramovich.
In that scenario, it is likely that the Government would take control of the sale and the proceeds would be frozen or go into a charitable fund, possibly for the war victims in Ukraine.
That effectively leaves Abramovich with two options: agree to the Government’s conditions and lose the club for nothing, or let Chelsea slowly rot.
It is likely the Russian billionaire will proceed with the sale to preserve the club’s future, even though that means he would not receive a penny for an asset he was looking to sell for £3bn last week.
A number of parties remain in the running, including Candy, whose attempts to buy Chelsea were revealed by Sportsmail earlier this week.
Chelsea were holding talks on Thursday night with the Government amid concerns they will struggle to complete the campaign.
The Blues could lose millions in sponsorship revenue following Thursday’s developments. Shirt sponsors Three have put their £40m agreement on hold and kit suppliers Nike, who agreed a 15-year, £900m deal with Chelsea in 2016, are considering walking away. That would see the club miss out on £540m.
To top it all, Chelsea’s rivals are lining up to take advantage of their plight, with two players who were due to sign for the Blues’ academy already approached by other high-ranking Premier League clubs, given the ban on the Blues bringing in fresh talent.
On a seismic day:
- Abramovich’s assets were frozen, throwing the sale of the club into disarray, although British property tycoon Nick Candy remains interested and several others are preparing £2billion offers;
- Shirt sponsors Three suspended their £40million deal, while fellow Chelsea partners Nike, Hyundai, Parimatch and Zapp consider ending their agreements;
- Chelsea chiefs held urgent talks with the Government in the hope of lessening the impact of stringent restrictions placed on the club, amid fears they may not be able to complete the season;
- Chelsea were told they cannot renew contracts or buy any players;
- Rival Premier League clubs circled like vultures to sign young footballers who were due to join Chelsea.
Blues officials proposed amendments to the licence issued to allow them to operate.
Under a wide-ranging raft of restrictions, Chelsea were left unable to sell match tickets, forced to close the club shop and blocked from taking bookings for the Stamford Bridge hotel.
They were told they can no longer buy or sell players, or offer new contracts, and were restricted to a maximum spend of £20,000 on travel to away matches.
They were informed that they can only pay ‘reasonable costs’ towards hosting home fixtures, ‘not exceeding £500,000 per fixture, per team’.
But there is a view the limits on transport and hosting matches will need to be raised to stop the club losing money.
Chelsea will continue to receive TV broadcast payments and prize money, but this will be frozen. Existing staff and players will continue to be paid.
The club will also ask for clarity over contracts, with a number of star players’ deals due to expire at the end of the season.
As it stands, Chelsea cannot renew any contracts – meaning defenders Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta will leave in the summer.
Manager Thomas Tuchel and his players were addressed by club officials before Thursday night’s win at Norwich and urged to focus on the football, despite the huge uncertainty.
Meanwhile Pat Nevin, who played for the club 193 times, later revealed on BBC 5Live that some members of the club’s staff had already been ‘partially laid off’ in the wake of Thursday’s financial sanctions.
The former Blues star, who still writes for the club’s website, also warned that Chelsea’s future remains ‘in serious danger’ and called on Abramovich to sell to the ‘right people’.
Three UK’s decision to suspend its sponsorship deal with Chelsea sets up a possible wave of corporate boycotts that could see the club deprived of tens of millions of pounds worth of revenue and facing financial meltdown.
Analysts say other sponsors are likely to follow Three in the hope of avoiding ‘guilt by association’ with Abramovich, who officials say owes at least part of his £9.4billion fortune to his friendship with Putin.
Daily Mail UK
