Chelsea bidding war reaches its endgame

CHELSEA’S new owners could be revealed this week with Roman Abramovich and the Raine Group set to decide a preferred bidder from the three consortiums left standing at the end of a prolonged process. The winner is likely to be either the Todd Boehly/Jonathan Goldstein group or the Josh Harris/David Blitzer combination.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was yesterday revealed as an adviser to the Boehly bid and a potential board member if they win. Osborne is a Chelsea fan and a season-ticket holder at Stamford Bridge. He works for the investment bank Robey Warshaw — and they have been brought on board to advise the consortium.

With Chelsea facing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final today, Blitzer and Harris are in the unusual position of watching the team they part own take on the team they are bidding to own, which means they would have to divest their shares, thought to be 22 per cent, in Palace before completing any Chelsea deal.

With the dramatic withdrawal of the troubled Ricketts bid on Friday, only three groups have made it to the end of the process. Stephen Pagliuca, 55 per cent owner of Serie A side Atalanta, is considered the outsider given that he would have to sell shares in his Italian club and was the last of the group to contact fans, although he is backed by John Terry and a group of wealthy supporters.

Manager Thomas Tuchel has stayed out of the process, but he did state: ‘I hope for them (the new owners) the academy is as important as it is for us and the supporters.

‘It’s what makes any team special if you have the mix between players from abroad and from the academy.’