Chelsea F.C

The late bid by Ratcliffe, the chief executive of Ineos, for the Premier League soccer club would be the highest price ever paid for a sports team.

“One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club.” Chelsea expects to lose two key defenders, Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen, when their contracts expire at the end of the season, and any talks about replacing them cannot take place until a replacement for Abramovich is found. As part of his offer, Ratcliffe pledged 2.5 billion pounds, or $3.1 billion, to a charitable trust “to support the victims of the war.” That language is similar to that used by Abramovich when he first announced he was putting the club up for sale. The strategy was expensive — Abramovich has absorbed about $2 billion in losses during his tenure as owner — but successful: Chelsea enjoyed the biggest period of success in its history, becoming a serial contender for both domestic and international honors as well as the world’s best talent, and winning five Premier League and two European championships. Raine has not commented during the bidding process, beyond an interview in which Ravitch made the startling — and as yet unsubstantiated — claim to the Financial Times that Chelsea and other Premier League teams could be worth $10 billion within five years. Deadlines for final bids were extended on several occasions, and then late this week the three investment groups remaining in the process were told to increase their offers by a further $600 million. Ratcliffe, a self-described fan of Chelsea’s Premier League rival Manchester United since his school days, is worth $10.6 billion, according to an index of the world’s richest people compiled by Bloomberg. Chelsea would not be Ratcliffe’s first foray into sports investment, or even soccer. For Chelsea’s players, staff and fans, a sale cannot come soon enough. His offer will most likely be out of reach of the three bidders who were already being considered by the Raine Group, the New York-based merchant bank Chelsea has enlisted to handle the sale. Ratcliffe’s arrival has upended that process, but choosing him could make the sale speedier than it would have been. The club is rooted in its community and its fans. Under Abramovich, Chelsea has become one of the biggest and most successful teams in global soccer.