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Britain's Richest Man Fails To Rule Out Move To Buy Chelsea

Britain's Richest Man Fails To Rule Out Move To Buy Chelsea

Jim Ratcliffe has just taken over cycling's Team Sky, renaming them Team INEOS, and he could still move for the Premier League team.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Britain's richest man Jim Ratcliffe has been linked with a move to buy Chelsea, after buying cycling's Team Sky, and the billionaire has shown no signs of ruling out making an offer for Roman Abramovich's club.

In June 2003 Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea and, as reports go, saved them from a very poor financial footing. The Russian billionaire transformed them from a side battling to finish fourth in the Premier League to winning two titles in his first three years as owner.

Chelsea have become one of the biggest sides in Europe in the past 16 years, winning multiple trophies at home and on the continent, and they're indebted to the Russian's investment.

In recent years Abramovich's money has dried up somewhat, although he's still more than happy to pay off a manager, and some have questioned his interest in the club after losing his British visa last year.

Abramovich has never made any noise about wanting to sell the club but recently the richest man in Britain, Jim Ratcliffe has been linked with a potentially buyout.

Asked if he's interested in buying the club by BBC Sport the 66 year old said:

"I'm not going to say no, but I don't know.

"I think we've dipped our toe into the water with football. It's a very different sport. It's quite a complicated sport and a complicated world, and we've dipped our toe in the water.

"We're in the process of learning. We brought this club in Switzerland [Lausanne-Sport], and that's really been educational.

"We haven't got to where we've got to in our chemicals and business world by being impetuous and rash and stupid, obviously.

"We recognise it's a very complex world, and we're going through that process of learning. We're not in a desperate hurry to get to the end game in football."

Abramovich watches on. Image: PA Images
Abramovich watches on. Image: PA Images

As well as owning Swiss side Lausanne-Sport the industrialist has just bought the elite cycling team previously Team Sky, renaming them Team INEOS, with the new team making their debut at the Tour de Yorkshire starting on Thursday.

Despite his interest in the Blues, Ratcliffe confirmed that he's actually a fan of their rivals Manchester United, saying, 'I'm a, sort of tortured, Manchester United fan at the moment,' which probably wouldn't go down well around Stamford Bridge.

It remains to be seen whether or not Ratcliffe will make a bid for the Blues but fans would certainly be interested in his £21 billion fortune.

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Topics: Football News, Chelsea, Transfer stories, Transfer rumours, Premier League, Transfer news, Tour de France