New York Times journalist Tariq Panja questioned the validity of Turkish businessman Muhsin Bayrak’s claim about his bid to buy Chelsea after doing some research.
Bayrak, the chairman of AB Grup, a construction company, recently made a claim, which was also confirmed by his spokesperson, that he has already made an offer for Chelsea.
In an earlier report from ESPN claimed that over 300 parties have expressed their interest to Raine Group, who have been asked by Roman Abramovich to find a buyer, but only 10 were regarded as credible.
Panja, a London-based New York Times journalist, is sceptical about Bayrka’s interest given the lack of information about him.
“The one thing that I would caution is that the names that are in the press often aren’t the ones [who] end up buying these teams especially at this high level,” Panja told Sky Sports.
“Serious people tend to get their business done, and it’s just done.
“We saw that in the last few days, a Turkish businessman that none of us had heard of [made the headlines],” he explained.
“I’ve contacted people in Turkey, in the football world there and people at Turkish FA, and they had not heard of this person.
“I’ve seen he has announced his intention of planting the Turkish flag in London on his own Instagram page.
“I don’t think serious people behave like that. But again, we live in a strange and interesting time.”
Obviously, there is still a possibility that Bayrak may have indeed made an offer to buy the club.
However, as Panja suggested, it seems unlikely that someone who is about to invest billions in a football club is relatively unknown in his own country.
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