David Ornstein has given a deadline for Todd Boehly’s consortium to secure the ownership of Chelsea.
Speaking to NBC Sports, Ornstein revealed that the group led by Boehly only has around a week to complete the takeover of Roman Abramovich’s kingdom.
After what feels like an eternity, the changing of hands at Chelsea seems to be reaching its conclusion.
Boehly takes one step closer to becoming Chelsea owner
On Friday, Boehly’s group was named as the preferred bidder to buy the Blues, having been in the driving seat for the majority of the process.
The co-owner of the LA Dodgers entered the race pretty from the very beginning and has hardly let slip of his lead ever since.
He was short-listed by the Raine Group as one of the final four candidates to replace Roman Abramovich.
Parties fronted by Stephen Pagliuca, Sir Martin Broughton and the Ricketts family were also selected.
However, the Ricketts family dropped out of the running last month due to rather hazy reasons.
Their place has recently been taken by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who surprised everyone by putting in a last-minute offer ahead of the weekend.
Ratcliffe comes after Boehly
Ratcliffe, the billionaire businessman who owns Ligue 1 side OGC Nice, could potentially be a stumbling block to Boehly’s bid.
Whilst the American is still the favourite to be named as Abramovich’s successor, the takeover time clock continues to tick.
“This needs to happen quickly. They have a period of one week to try wrap this up, we understand,” said Ornstein on the move for Chelsea from Boehly’s team.
“And if they don’t, it may be thrown wide up again to other bidders.
“We saw out of the blue the interest come forward from Sir Jim Ratcliffe.”
Ratcliffe’s late attempt just throws another twist in a tale full of turns.
It’s certainly been difficult keeping track of all the different exploits and movements of the applicants.
But all Chelsea supporters really want to know is who will be in charge of their club next season; everything else is pretty secondary right now.
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