On Friday, following the news that Roman Abramovich had decided to put Chelsea up for sale, Muhsin Bayrak, a Turkish billionaire, announced that he wanted to buy the Stamford Bridge side.
There was some skepticism as to whether he could afford the £3bn or so that the Russian oligarch is asking for, but he has continued his push in the local press, and reiterated on Tuesday that he was still going forward with an offer for the Blues and talks on Thursday will be taking place between all parties.
Speaking to Oda TV, he said: “We have reached a certain stage. Our law and finance department will start talks with theirs in London on Thursday. That’s the way it is at this point. On Thursday, we will notify the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). People are talking about it, we made some progress in the talks, and the world believes we have a 90% chance of completing the deal. Abramovich thinks the same.”
Those are some bold claims by the businessman, who also explained that he would ‘take on’ the whole debt at Chelsea, which is said to stand at around £680m.
Bayrak was then asked directly about the offer he made to buy Chelsea, but he remained coy about the figures, revealing just a very small bit of information after rumours emerged in the British media about a £2.5bn bid being made.
He said: “I won’t tell you. We need to manage this process very well, or we will lose. There are countries in the world that don’t want Turkey to buy it. Let’s keep this a little secret. Let’s get the consent by Thursday.
“We didn’t give that price (£2.5bn) to the British press. Our offer is under that, I’ll at least say that.”
We’ll now have to wait until Thursday to find out if Bayrak is telling the truth, but if he is, then this could be all over very quickly.
