Saudi Media have had their bid to takeover Chelsea 'confirmed' after doubts emerged suggesting that their bid to become Roman Abramovich's successor in west London didn't come to fruition.
Now, with the 9pm deadline passed by on Friday, the Raine Group are in the process of deciding which offers they will shortlist with the official decision expected to be made by Monday. It is understood that all of Todd Boehly's consortium, Nick Candy's consortium and the Ricketts Family's partnership had submitted their offers in on time, along with many others.
However, the initial feeling after the deadline passed by on Saturday March 19 was that Bohely's group were somewhat in the driving seat in this takeover race due to the part-owner of the LA Dodgers upping his offer amid the increased competition from competitors who were willing to move closer to the £3billion valuation of the club. What wasn't known for sure was just what happened with the Saudi Media bid that was talked up all week as the richest offer.
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The Athletic had reported that no concrete bid from the Saudi Media Group arrived prior to Friday’s deadline. Their report went on to add that finding wealthy backers in Saudi Arabia had "proved difficult", while any sale to the Middle East could have potentially dragged the process on far longer than a sale to a British or American owner.
However, GOAL's Nizaar Kinsella states that a bid has gone in despite the doubts: "Saudi Media's bid has since been confirmed to me after doubts about its presence emerged. The bid is described as 'competitive' and there's a hope that it gets shortlisted. It's possible decisions on that will be made as early as Monday morning."
CBS Sport's Ben Jacobs also added : "This notion Saudi Media Group 'missed' their bidding deadline is not only incorrect but fails to understand the intricacies of how this type of sale works. SMG have bid and remain a serious contender to buy Chelsea. But every serious contender has been trying to establish what the market value of CFC is, not just on paper or in Abramovich's eyes. Also between the groups trying to purchase since some are prepared to pay more. There is roughly a $750,000 (£569,000) difference between offers I am aware of.
"SMG laid down an early marker and are still likely to be the highest bidder. But it's important to stress this is an unusual 'tender' style process, done at speed, and that makes it both fluid and unpredictable.
"One of the key requirements from the Raine Group that had many people doubting about Al Khereiji's companies ability to successfully make an offer for the club was that no 'politically sensitive' offers were to be considered due to what has happened in Ukraine with Russia's invasion."
