Turkish businessman Muhsin Bayrak insisted he would want the blessing of sanctioned Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich as his company prepared a bid to buy the club, per Reuters.
As it stands, Abramovich is directly not involved in the sale process despite technically still being the Chelsea owner.
The UK government’s official statement also specifically mentioned that while they may grant Chelsea a licence to complete the sale and proceed from the sale cannot go to the “sanctioned individual”.
Still, Abramovich, through merchant bank Raine Group which he appointed to be in charge of the sale, may still have a say on the preferred bidders.
Bayrak told Reuters that his company AB Holding Group was prepared to pay £2.2billion to Abramovich before the latter was hit by sanctions.
“The situation has changed since it was transferred to the government,” he added.
Reuters also highlighted that various Turkish media have questioned whether Bayrak’s company actually has the financial power to buy Chelsea instead of seeking publicity.
Bayrak, however, responded to these claims rather confidently: “We will make the applications by Friday.”
The businessman further said that he planned to meet Abramovich in person later this week in Turkey to get the blessing for the deal.
He claimed that he first spoke to Abramovich by phone about a potential deal last month and met him in Istanbul two weeks ago.
“We’re not just talking about Chelsea but about partnering on projects,” he explained.
Previously, New York Times journalist Tariq Panja also questioned Bayrak’s intention to buy Chelsea given how relatively unknown he is even among Turkish football people.
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