UFC star Conor McGregor has declared his interest in buying Chelsea from Roman Abramovich, who is now actively looking to sell the west London club after 19 years at the helm. A small collection of opportunistic buyers have sensed a potential business opportunity to purchase the six-time Premier League champions after the Russian owner released a rare statement on Saturday confirming that he was handing Chelsea’s charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of the club.
There has been question marks in the past few days as to whether the Chelsea Foundation’s six trustees are indeed ready to take over the club, as requested by Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With Western countries now imposing strong, ruthless sanctions on Russian oligarchs, Abramovich is now reportedly keen to sell up as part of his plan to exit the UK economy.
Now McGregor has seemingly thrown his hat into the ring on social media, by sensationally expressing his interest in the venture.
He tweeted: “I wish to explore this. @ChelseaFC,” accompanied with a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation…
The Irish MMA megastar attached part of a conversation with an unknown accomplice, in which he said: “Chelsea for sale £3bn, let’s buy it.”
It’s not the first time 33-year-old McGregor has expressed an interest in acquiring a football club.
Last April in light of the proposal of the European Super League, he made it clear he was willing to take the club he supports – Manchester United – off the Glazer’s hands.
“A conversation came up regarding Celtic first to be honest. To acquire shares from Dermot Desmond (an Irish businessman who is the largest shareholder with the team),” he wrote on Twitter.
“I am certainly interested in acquiring a sports team at some stage! Both Celtic and Man United are teams I like for sure. But I am open. I feel I could do big things for a club.”
As of December 2021, McGregor’s net worth stood at an estimated of $200million – meaning he would need a substantial fellow investor by his side in order to launch a serious offer for Chelsea.
If McGregor is indeed serious about buying Chelsea from Abramovich, he will have plenty of competition on his hands.
Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss has already revealed he has been approached to buy Chelsea but he insists Abramovich’s valuation of the club is unreasonable.
“Abramovich is trying to sell all his villas in England, he also wants to get rid of Chelsea quickly,” Wyss told Swiss newspaper Blick.
“I and three other people received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from Abramovich. I have to wait four to five days now. Abramovich is currently asking far too much.
“You know, Chelsea owe him £2billion. But Chelsea has no money. As of today, we don’t know the exact selling price.
“I can well imagine starting at Chelsea with partners. But I have to examine the general conditions first.
“But what I can already say: I’m definitely not doing something like this alone. If I buy Chelsea, then with a consortium consisting of six to seven investors.”
Ahead of the FA Cup tie with Luton, manager Thomas Tuchel snapped at journalists over questions on the future of Chelsea’s ownership and Abramovich’s connections to Russia – insisting there is nothing more he can say.
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