Two weeks after the deadline for offers, Sir Jim Ratcliffe made an offer to buy Chelsea. Steve Pagliuca’s group had been eliminated from the competition when he made his move. Ratcliffe, the owner of the British petrochemicals company Ineos, told the Times: “We put an offer in this morning. We are the only British bid. Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London. We have no profit motive because we make our money in other ways.”
Pagliuca’s group was one of three vying for the right to buy Chelsea, which is controlled by Roman Abramovich. It leaves two other consortiums with US involvement in the race: one is led by Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers; the other is led by Sir Martin Broughton and Sebastian Coe, both British and has received backing from Josh Harris and David Blitzer, owners of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team.
Abramovich and Chelsea’s board of directors are evaluating each offer, and Raine, the American bank overseeing the sale, will present a preferred bidder to the UK government for approval. Ineos said in a statement: “Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of Ineos, has made a formal bid for Chelsea FC, for £4.25bn. £2.5bn is committed to the Charitable Trust to support victims of the war, with £1.75bn committed to investing directly into the club over the next 10 years. This is a British bid, for a British club.”
It stated that Stamford Bridge, as well as the men’s and women’s first teams, as well as the academy, would be improved. One that is viewed in the same esteem as Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Bayern Munich. they believe London should have a club that symbolizes the city’s prominence. Chelsea is the club they want to be.
