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Britain’s richest man, Jim Ratcliffe, wants to buy Chelsea.
Ratcliffe, who is worth £21 billion, and made his fortune in the petrochemicals industry, has already made one major investment this week. He is set to take over the Team Sky professional cycling team, which has enjoyed global success at the Tour de France and other major events, with the likes of riders like Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas. The team will be rebranded Ineos, after the name of his company, but he is not content to stop there.
He would also like to buy Chelsea, although a stumbling block would appear to be price. Current owner Roman Abramovich wants US $2.1 billion for the club he acquired in 2003, and Ratcliffe is not prepared to pay that much.
Despite this, there are suspicions in some quarters that Abramovich would like to dispose of his stake in Chelsea because of the ongoing problems between Russia and Britain, which makes it increasingly difficult for him to spend long periods of time in the UK.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.