‘DON’T GIVE US DEBT OF 50 YEARS’

the club and now the former Olympic champion wants it resolved and the club put into safe hands.

Coe, in an interview with LBC Radio, said: ”Fans like me want a resolution to this, but they want to make sure the club lands in the right hands and the club isn’t lumbered with debt for the next 50 years.

“As someone who’s been involved in sport, there is a vacuum here if we’re not careful, which is going to impact on the players – it’s certainly going to impact on the coaching.

“To be sitting in a stadium where you’re regularly 10,000 fans down because you can’t sell seats – there is a problem here.

“The rest of the decisions have to be made properly, there is a process and this is a one-off. You don’t see clubs being sold in these circumstances, so Government will have to be really clear what it wants out of this.”

Abramovich had initially publicly declared he would write off the £1.6bn he has spent bankrolling the club since he originally took it over in 2003.

But that has now become a huge sticking point with claims that Abramovich – who has seen all of his UK assets frozen by the Government – could be ready to challenge whether the debt can be seized.

Ministers are increasingly anxious over whether a deal can be completed in time, as Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries (above) told the BBC’s Newscast show last Thursday that Chelsea were “on borrowed time”.

Chelsea’s licence as a top-flight club is due to expire on May 31 and the 20 top-flight clubs will meet at their annual general meeting on June 8. They will then face a huge legal issue if a new owner is not installed by then.

Boehly (top) will not face the Premier League’s owners and directors’ test until his takeover is ratified, but they have already carried out due diligence on potential new owners, so any deal can be pushed through quickly.

The Government are adamant that no compromise can be made on Abramovich and he cannot benefit in any way from the sale.

But it seems he is set to challenge whether the huge debt accumulated over the past 20 years can be frozen.