Thursday morning saw an announcement from the UK government that Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned.
For Chelsea, that means the club has been ‘seized’, with the BBC reporting it’s been taken from ‘Mr Abramovich as part of the freeze on his assets and the sale of the club is now on hold’.
That doesn’t mean a future sale of the club has been completely ruled out, something explained by Matt Law of The Telegraph. The sale would instead have to be handed over to the UK government, with Matt Law saying the doubt is whether Abramovich would ‘allow’ that to happen.
There is still an insistence in Turkey that Muhsin Bayrak is making attempts to buy the club. On Wednesday evening, DHA quoted him as saying: “We are not a subcontractor to anyone. Today, our delegation officially started meeting with Chelsea managers in London. Let’s share the good news with you. Probably tomorrow or Friday, the works will start literally.
On Thursday morning, shortly before the sanctions announcement, a source close to the Turkish effort to buy Chelsea told Sport Witness: “The European representative and lawyers of AB Grup Holding, owned by Turkish businessman Muhsin Bayrak, who wants to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich, started negotiations in London.
“Muhsin Bayrak announced that they will make an official notification to the Public Disclosure Platform, the Public Disclosure Platform, on Thursday regarding the Chelsea meetings.
“Berivan Erdoğan, lawyer of AB Grup Holding, owned by Muhsin Bayrak, and Vehbi Kevser, the company’s European representative, will meet with club officials in London today to discuss the acquisition of Chelsea.”
Over in Switzerland, Blick simply say the process to buy Chelsea has become ‘extremely difficult’ for Hansjörg Wyss.
