Chelsea takeover: Todd Boehly's bid satisfies Premier League | Purchase subject to government green light

The Todd Boehly/Clearlake consortium has been approved by the league's board to take over the club.

The government is expected to approve the takeover of Chelsea in the next week after receiving legal guarantees that Roman Abramovich won't benefit from the sale of the club.

The Board applied the owners and directors test to all prospective directors, and undertook the necessary due diligence.

The Consortium purchasing the club is made up of affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., Todd Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter. The necessary licences to complete the takeover will be secured by the relevant Governments.

Sky Sports News understands that the proceeds of the sale will go into a frozen bank account.

The sale of the club must be approved by the Portuguese authorities because of the sanction by the European Union.

The process of completing the sale of Chelsea could be slowed down due to the complexity and bureaucratic nature of the deal, yet UK officials continue intense discussions with both the European Commission and their Portuguese counterparts in an effort to complete the sale as quickly as possible.

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The Prime Minister's official spokesman said that they were working closely with the club to progress the sale.

We want to get this done as soon as possible while also making sure the sanctions regime is protected, but we will say more on this as soon as possible.

The deal will end the 19-year ownership of the club by the Russian billionaire.

Boehly, co-owner of the LA Dodgers baseball team, and fellow consortium member Hansjörg Wyss were at the game.

The news will be a boost for Thomas Tuchel as they have been unable to buy or sell players or negotiate new contracts with players due to the restrictions imposed on Abramovich over his alleged links to Putin.

Antonio Rudiger is joining Real Madrid on a free transfer, as well as Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso, who have been linked with Barcelona.

After Russia invaded of Ukraine on February 24, the owner put the club up for sale.

What is the Boehly bid and who is part of it?

• Mr Boehly's bid would see voting rights shared equally between him and Clearlake Capital, a Californian private equity firm.
• Clearlake, which has no direct ownership pedigree in major sports assets, would own a majority of the shares in Chelsea.
• The group is being advised by Goldman Sachs and Robey Warshaw, where the former chancellor - and Chelsea fan - George Osborne, now works as a partner.

During the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Abramovich suffered symptoms of suspected chemical weapons poisoning and was part of a delegation trying to broker a peace deal.

On March 10, the UK government imposed sanctions on the man, but granted him a special licence to operate.

The talks over the sale have dragged on in recent weeks, with reports that he wanted to repay his loan before he would approve a sale.

Boehly bid successful - what does it mean for Chelsea?

• This is the second time Todd Boehly has tried to buy Chelsea. His £2.2 billion offer was rejected in 2019.
• Chelsea are hoping to operate as normal in the transfer market this summer and Thomas Tuchel will be backed to get the players he needs.
• The prospective new owners have already started making plans for the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge.
• Their long-term plan is to turn the ground into a destination stadium where fans will want to spend a significant amount of time.