Sir Jim Ratcliffe: Team Ineos owner makes late bid to buy Chelsea

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made a last-minute bid to buy the club.

Ratcliffe is reported to have made a major offer for the club on Friday.

The 69-year-old bought French club Nice instead of bidding for the Blues back in 2019.

The offer to buy the club was confirmed by a spokesman for Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe told The Times that they put an offer in this morning.

We are the only British bid. Our goal is to create a very fine club in London. We don't have a profit motive because we make our money in other ways.

There are three more bids left.

• the bid led by Sir Martin Broughton, the former Liverpool and British Airways chairman, which includes the billionaire Crystal Palace shareholders Dave Blitzer and Josh Harris
• a consortium headed by Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers part-owner, which includes backing from Clearlake Capital, a US investment firm
• an offer fronted by Steve Pagliuca, part-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics and Serie A's Atalanta, which includes support from Larry Tanenbaum, the NBA chairman

The new owner of the club will hopefully be in place by the end of May, despite the late entry of Ratcliffe.

The Government must grant a new licence to allow the sale to be completed once the Raine Group selects a preferred bidder.

On March 2, the day after the invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich put the club up for sale.

On March 10, the UK Government imposed sanctions on the tycoon, who was accused of having links to Putin.

The club has won 21 trophies under the ownership ofAbramovich.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe statement in full

The chairman of Ineos has made a formal bid for the club.

This is a British club bid.

We believe that a club is bigger than the owners who are only there for a short time. The fans and the community have a responsibility.

The club will benefit from the spending of 1.75 billion dollars over the next 10 years.

We will invest in the stadium to make it a world-class one.

It will be organic and ongoing so that we will not move away from the home of Chelsea and risk losing the support of loyal fans.

We will continue to invest in the team to ensure we have a first-class squad of the world's greatest players, coaches and support staff.

We hope to continue to invest in the academy to provide opportunity for talented youngsters to develop into first class players.

London should have a club that reflects the city's stature. It is held in the same regard as Real Madrid. We intend to have a club like that.

We are making this investment as fans of the beautiful game, not as a means to turn a profit. We do that with our businesses. The club is a part of the community. It is our intention to invest in the team.

No comment will be made from Sir Jim or INEOS during the bidding process.

More to come.

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