“Currently demanding far too much”
“Panic” Abramovich wants to get rid of Chelsea
03/02/2022 1:43 p.m
Roman Abramovich announced earlier this week that he would like to step down from leading his club Chelsea. Now the very rich oligarch is apparently planning the next step: the Russian has offered the Premier League club for sale.
Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss is considering buying English football club Chelsea FC from Russian entrepreneur Roman Abramovich. “Abramovitch is trying to sell all his villas in England. He also wants to get rid of Chelsea quickly,” Wyss told the Swiss newspaper “Blick”. “I and three other people received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from Abramovich.” He will check this for four to five days, and he does not yet know the exact selling price. “Like all the other oligarchs, he’s in a panic,” Wyss emphasized, since the Russian is “one of Putin’s closest advisers and friends.”
“Abramovitch is asking far too much at the moment. You know: Chelsea owe him two billion pounds,” said the 86-year-old. But Chelsea have no money. “Meaning: Those who buy Chelsea should compensate Abramovich.” Wyss announced that he would definitely not join the 2021 Champions League winner alone. “If I buy Chelsea, then with a consortium consisting of six to seven investors.” Abramovich bought the club in 2003 for around 165 million euros and has since invested many times that amount.
Club is said to be worth around 1.9 billion euros
The billionaire and club owner Abramovich had already announced that he would hand over the management of the club to the trustees of the Chelsea Foundation. But whether he succeeds is unclear due to legal hurdles. “In the almost 20 years that I have owned Chelsea FC,” writes the 55-year-old, he “always saw his role as a protector of the club whose job it is to ensure that we are as successful as we are today possible and building for the future while also playing a positive role in our communities,” he wrote of his decision to at least formally distance himself from his club. The English media had previously speculated about a possible sale of the club, which, according to the accounting firm KPMG, is said to be worth 1.9 billion euros.
In addition to Chelsea FC, Abramovich owns a villa with 15 rooms in London, the value of which is estimated at the equivalent of almost 180 million euros, and a penthouse. Now, according to the Times, among others, he fears that he will become the target of British sanctions after all. So far, the UK has only sanctioned 10 Russians with comparatively small assets in the UK.
He is considered a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the military attack on Ukraine last week. Insiders recently said that Abramovich wanted to try to help de-escalate the conflict at the request of Ukraine.