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Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has rejected a huge offer from a Middle East consortium to buy the club.
Speculation has risen in recent months that Abramovich was ready to sell the club, after he turned down an offer worth £2 billion from Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, in the summer. Now it appears that Abramovich turned down an even larger offer from the Middle East.
Abramovich’s interest in Chelsea has appeared to cool following political tensions between the UK government and his native Russia. That has meant his application for the extension of his UK visa has been denied, meaning that he did not attend any Premier League matches last season. He has not been seen at any this campaign either.
However, it appears for the time being at least that the 52 year old Russian intends to keep his ownership of the club he bought from Ken Bates for £140 million in July 2003.
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.