Chelsea ownership contender the Ricketts family has agreed to meet the club’s financial demands
According to the Telegraph (Subscription Required), the Ricketts family, who have faced backlash from the Blues fans recently, have agreed to the financial demand made by Chelsea for the renovation of the stadium and investment into the squad.
Due to the sanction imposed by the UK government, Blues’ owner Roman Abramovich had all his assets in England frozen, and he also has been stripped of the power to do business in the country. And expectedly, it eventually influenced him to initiate the sale of Chelsea football club.
Abramovich has put his faith in a private investment bank named Raine, who is currently in charge of the selling process. The investment firm is also entitled to receive a significant percentage of commission for overseeing the operation.
Recently, Raine shortlisted the four bidders led by Todd Bohely, Josh Harris and Sir Martin Broughton, the Ricketts family and Stephen Pagliuca for the next stage of the process, which is a four-way auction where the bidders will go over £2.5bn. But before that, Chelsea have made a financial demand to the contenders.
A major breakthrough
Chelsea asked for a £1billion further investment, which will be used to renovate the stadium and develop the squad to make them competitive in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
Now, it is believed that the Ricketts family has agreed to pledge the aforementioned amount in order to secure the ownership of the Chelsea football club. This is a huge breakthrough in our bid to find new owners and have the club return to normalcy.
However, it is believed that only the sale price would not decide who wins the deal as the new owners would also have to win the trust of the fans whose opinion would be considered in the process.
Now, this process of earning the trust of the fans puts the Ricketts family’s hopes of taking over the club in danger as they have been heavily criticized by the supporters and the club’s Supporters’ Trust. It seems a #notoRicketts campaign has also been initiated by the fans on social media.
It is a smart step taken to ensure that the heartbeat of the club, i.e the fans, are not overlooked in the process. It also puts forth the opinion, feelings, and inputs of the common man operating outside the circle of the elite when it comes to ensuring a minimum level of the moral and ethical foundation of the club.
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The club needs reinforcements in several areas, especially in the centre-back positions. Going by Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner’s recent form, a signing up front won’t hurt. And with the ageing Jorginho and N’Golo Kante- topped by the potential return of loanee Saul to parent club Atletico Madrid this summer- it would make sense to sign a young midfielder as well.
The financial demand made by the club also suggests that the management is ensuring that the new owner injects money into the team as soon as possible because, without the money flow, the club’s proceedings are stuck. And that’s the way it should be. Chelsea shouldn’t be a mere instrument for rich people to get richer. We must ensure that the welfare of the club is the first and foremost goal of any owner.