When the end of Chelsea's Abu era is inevitable, the club owners who have built the Blues into a top giant for 19 years are doing their best to bring Chelsea a "pain" as small as possible.
A few days ago, Abu announced that he was abandoning the £1.5 billion loan the club owed him, as well as donating a "net benefit" from selling the club, both in an effort to reduce the likelihood of himself and the club being sanctioned. Obviously, no matter who Chelsea ultimately spends, this change of ownership is a very unusual deal.
Abu has put forward the latest deal requirements: the new owner must invest enough to maintain Chelsea's top-notch position. This makes the "transaction" look more like a "trust" operation.
With Abu's assets in the UK likely to be frozen at any time, Chelsea's owners have recently accelerated the sale of the club. At the end of last week, the joint acquirer of Swiss billionaire Weiss and American sports investor Boley, negotiations with Abu began in full swing. Boli had offered £2.2 billion for Chelsea in 2019, but Abu refused. In addition to the two Chelsea season pass holders , Britain's richest man, Ratcliffe and Egypt's billionaire Rufi Mansour , there are also known quotes from Turkey's billionaire Byrac.
Financial Times experts believe that given the complexity and political risks of the sale of Chelsea, as well as the huge investment in the future expansion of Stamford Bridge Stadium, it is difficult for the existing acquirers to bid more than £2 billion.
Premier League CEO Masters believes Abu would be wise to decisively sell Chelsea because the Russian boss is under increasing pressure and the sooner the sale is completed, the better it will be for everyone. Masters stressed that even the fastest clubs sell deals in at least 10 days, while the usual deals take weeks, depending on the complexity of the deals.
Abu commissioned the Rennes Group, which handled the sale, to set the deadline for buyers to submit quotations on March 15. While Abu wants to close the deal as soon as possible, against the backdrop of a virtual inability to benefit from the deal, the Russian boss still wants to entrust Chelsea to investors who are also passionate about football and have no political risks, when looking for a receiver. Swiss billionaire Weiss and American billionaire Boley, who has extensive experience in sports investment, were once considered to be in a leading position. However, Swiss media revealed that Weiss himself is not much interested in football, just to invest, so it is not Abu's best choice.
Over time, the Abbes have demanded sustainable development commitments from potential counterparties: guaranteeing sufficient capital investment to maintain the Blues' position as a European front-line giant, rather than using Chelsea as a tool to make money. And promised that the power structure of Chelsea after the change of hands would not change much, and the strong woman Marina Granovskaya would stay in office after cutting off relations with Abu. Everyone knows that the stability of the executive management, including the coaching staff, is crucial to Chelsea's future.
As a result, Turkey's super-rich Bairac stood out, and Abu flew to Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday in his own private plane to negotiate an acquisition with Barak's team. Considered one of the most sincere acquirers, His Turkish AB Group, which has a personal wealth of £8.3 billion in the fields of construction, tourism, energy and cryptocurrencies, is relatively close to Abu and has no problem maintaining chelsea's status quo. Barak even said that the negotiations between the two sides are progressing very quickly, "the negotiation process has ended, and soon the Turkish flag will be raised in London." ”
Chelsea's sale seems to be going well, but the Times is not optimistic about the future of Abu's "orphans". Because even if the Russian boss finds the right home, Chelsea still faces many real problems.
Can the transaction be approved by the regulator? While Abu waived the club for £1.5 billion he owes, is the hefty sum included in his offer for Chelsea? Will the acquirer incur significant tax expenses as a result? Will this unconventional takeover have an impact on Chelsea's compliance with the Fiscal Fairness Act in the future? And Abu's pledge to donate the "net proceeds" of the acquisition to charitable foundations, how is this "net proceeds" defined and can it be recognized by regulators and premier leagues?
These unresolved issues will affect the enthusiasm and difficulty of the possible new owners and the future operation of Chelsea.
In addition to the complexity of the acquisition level, Chelsea also faces many problems at the competitive level when changing the owner. The Abu era kept trying, and the problem of stadium expansion that was ultimately unresolved was the first to bear the brunt. Stamford Bridge's capacity among London clubs has dropped to 4th, not only behind Tottenham and Arsenal, but even worse than West Ham United on loan at London Olympic Stadium. The stadium with a capacity of more than 60,000 people is an indispensable "cornucopia" for modern super giants. For Chelsea to remain in the top six of the Premier League, they will have to continue the plan of a new stadium that has been indefinitely shelved in the Abu era. But will the new owners be able to provide enough money for the Blues, as Abu did? At least for now, the cost of Chelsea's new stadium has risen to £1.4-22 billion.
Inside the stadium, FIFA is about to increase the number of players on loan from the club, which will also deeply affect Chelsea's competitiveness. In recent years, the Blues have often had more than 40 players on loan every season, open source and throttling. But then one of the market's revenue streams will plummet.
All of the above are difficult problems in Chelsea's sale process. But the really decisive conundrum is time. As Premier League CEO Masters has publicly suggested, the deal must be fast. Otherwise, when the sanctions are really issued, not only will the trade be immediately suspended, but Chelsea clubs will also be able to enter the custody process because of being "frozen", and the team's Premier League points this season will also face the possibility of penalties, at that time, it is too late.