Britain's Richest Man In Frame To Buy Chelsea From Roman Abramovich

Chelsea's next owner could be a season ticket holder, as Britain's richest man considers buying the club from Roman Abramovich.

On Wednesday, just ahead of Chelsea's FA Cup game with Luton Town, Abramovich finally confirmed that he would be selling the Premier League club.

There had been calls for the Blues' ownership to be seized from the Russian ever since Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine last week.

Earlier in the week a Swiss billionaire claimed he'd been approached to make a move for the club, but until Wednesday night it was very much unofficial that Abramovich would sell.

According to the Sun, there is three potential bidders in the frame to buy the five time Premier League winners, and billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, Britain's richest man, is amongst those interested.

Ratcliffe, left, is involved with Mercedes as one of the F1 team's sponsors. Image: PA Images

Ratcliffe already owns two football clubs, buying Swiss side FC Lausanne-Sport in 2017 and then adding Ligue 1 side Nice to the list in 2019.

The 69-year-old has been linked with potentially buying both Chelsea and Manchester United in the past, having grown up as a United fan but owning a season ticket at Stamford Bridge now.

Asked three years ago about the possibility of buying the west London club, Ratcliffe failed to rule it out, saying, "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."

Ratcliffe, who is reportedly worth £6 billion, owns Ineos and the company own the British based cycling team formerly known as Team Sky, have invested heavily in rugby and F1 and set up Eliud Kipchoge challenge to run a marathon in under two hours.

Abramovich celebrating last season's Champions League victory. Image: PA Images

Abramovich, who has had incredible success with the club since he bought them in 2003, is thought to be writing off the £1.5 billion in debt the club owe him.

The Russian is said to want around £3 billion to walk away from the club, although that could change if there is further impending chance of any sanctions or asset freezing from the British government.

If Ratcliffe, or the other two potential buyers, fall through then Conor McGregor is ready to step in and buy the club, according to the UFC star himself.

Then again, he did make a similar claim about Manchester United when the European Super League fell apart a year ago.

Topics: Chelsea, Premier League

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

@Sidler28