Chelsea takeover process could end by late April — report

Chelsea’s men squad will be back in business this weekend. In the meantime, the final list of four contenders to take over the club work on convincing Marina Granovskaia, Eugene Tenenbaum, Bruce Buck and David Barnard they should be the ones to lead the Blues in the foreseeable future.

It is a process that could be much shorter than anticipated. According to a report from Sky Sports, Raine Group intends to present the winning bid to the Premier League and the United Kingdom’s government on April 18th, one week from deadline day on final offers by the quartet made of consortiums led by Todd Boehly, Sir Martin Broughton, the Ricketts’ family of Chicago Cubs fame, and Boston Celtics’ co-owner Stephen Pagliuca.

At the same time, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters stated earlier this month the approval could take only ten days. Therefore, we might have a new club owner by the end of April if a license approving Chelsea’s sale gets on a “fast track”.

There is little reason to believe this will be any different. It has been a “bull market” for Chelsea despite sanctions placed on Roman Abramovich that put the club in a much more difficult situation than anticipated, even if adjustments such as allowing access to cash reserves and away ticket sales were then made to amend mistakes. The shorter the sale process, the better for all parties involved.