Abramovich not shopping £2.5b-rated Chelsea, multiple sources confirm

Moving from the business section to the sports section, the Times are once again running a story containing the words Abramovich, Chelsea, and selling.

As the day before, in their “exclusive”, it’s much ado about nothing, or even less if that’s possible. Matt Hughes’s story makes it clear from the off that Abramovich is “not actively looking to sell the club”. Not only that, the advisory group that was supposedly the smoking gun for yesterday’s shocker, Raine Group, have actually “acted as consultants for Chelsea for several years” and they have also “not been instructed to find a buyer”.

There is literally no meat on the bones of this story, and the little cartilage that is hanging on for dear life is apparently priced at £2.5 billion, or some such. That’s supposed to be Abramovich’s minimum “demand” to even “consider” a sale of the club he isn’t interested in selling.

Further confirmation of the Chelsea owner’s non-selling intentions come from Russia, where TASS, the Russian News Agency, have contacted a “source close to Abramovich”, who confirmed in no uncertain terms that the reports have “no basis whatsoever” and Roman “does not even think about selling the club”.

And so, this mildly interesting weekend diversion comes to an end. Carry on.