Sir Jim Ratcliffe has confirmed that he has lodged a late bid to buy Chelsea.
The British billionaire was rumoured to have thrown his hat in the ring to complete a takeover of the west London club despite Raine Group having already named their preferred bidders.
However, Ratcliffe is now a late contender to complete a deal for the Blues with it being confirmed that he has made a bid and laid out what he intends to do once a takeover goes through. He released a written statement on Friday afternoon nearly two months after Roman Abramovich initially indicated his desire to sell.
It reads: “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 investment directly into the club over the next 10 years.
“This is a British bid, for a British club. We believe that a club is bigger than its owners who are temporary custodians of a great tradition. With responsibility to the fans and the community.
“That is why we are committing to spending £1.75bn over 10 years that will be for the direct benefit of the club. We will invest in Stamford Bridge to make it a world-class stadium, befitting of Chelsea FC.
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“This will be organic and on-going so that we will not move away from the home of Chelsea and risk losing the support of loyal fans. We will continue to invest in the team to ensure we have a first-class squad of the world’s greatest players, coaches and support staff, in the men’s and women’s games.
“And we hope to continue to invest in the academy to provide opportunity for talented youngsters to develop into first-class players. We believe that London should have a club that reflects the stature of the city. One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club.
“We are making this investment as fans of the beautiful game — not as a means to turn a profit. We do that with our core businesses. The club is rooted in its community and its fans.
"And it is our intention to invest in Chelsea FC for that reason. No further comment will be made from Sir Jim or INEOS during the bidding process.”
It now means that there are now once again four contenders to become Abramovich’s successor in west London. Consortiums spearheaded by Todd Boehly and Sir Martin Broughton are both involved in the race to acquire the reigning European champions but according to reports from The Telegraph, Stephen Pagliuca has been informed that his offer will not progress to the next stage of negotiations.
