Over the past few days, the press has been actively discussing the possible sale of Chelsea by Roman Abramovich.

They started talking about this after a Russian businessman handed over the management of the club to a charitable foundation amid the aggravated situation in Ukraine, and rumors about three potential buyers appeared in the media.

As a result, the owner of the team, who made an official statement, dotted all the “and” himself.

“I would like to comment on the media coverage of the last few days regarding my ownership of Chelsea.

As I stated earlier, I have always made decisions in the interests of the club.

In this situation, I decided to sell it, because I believe that this is in the interests of the club, fans, employees, sponsors and partners, ”the press service of the current Champions League winners quotes Abramovich as saying.

In mid-February, The Sun reported that Abramovich allegedly lost about €778 million in a day due to the situation in Ukraine.

According to the newspaper, the shares of the steel company Evraz fell by 29% on the London stock exchange, the reason for which was fears of possible sanctions against Russian companies.

It was not excluded that subsequently the Russian businessman himself would be subjected to them.

This was mentioned by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Minister Liz Truss.

Perhaps it was the potential problems that forced Abramovich to move away from Chelsea management.

At the end of February, the businessman decided to transfer management to a charitable foundation.

And a few days later there were rumors about Abramovich's intention to sell the house and apartment in London.

Many took this as a signal that the Russian would soon part with the football club.

Then the billionaire Hansjörg Wyss said that the businessman was really selling his villas in England, and also intends to get rid of Chelsea.

According to him, on March 1, he and three other people received an offer to buy the club, but Abramovich's requests were allegedly excessive.

The debt of Londoners to Roman was £2 billion (about €2.4 billion), but they did not have the opportunity to pay off due to lack of funds.

Consequently, the repayment of the debt could fall on the successor of the Russian.

However, Abramovich soon denied information about the desire to part with Chelsea as soon as possible, and also assured that he was not going to demand payment of the debt from the potential owner.

According to Forbes, he amounted to a slightly smaller amount - € 1.82 billion.

“The sale of the club will not be carried out urgently, we will adhere to all necessary procedures.

I will not demand payment of any debts on loans.

I have never pursued commercial goals and have always been involved with the club out of love for football and Chelsea,” Abramovich said, noting that the proceeds will go to help victims of the military operation in Ukraine.

The Russian businessman did not hide the fact that the sale of the club, which he owned for the past 18 years, is "an incredibly difficult decision."

He bought Chelsea in July 2003 and subsequently invested huge amounts of money in it, which allowed the middle class of the Premier League to become one of the most titled teams in Europe.

During the Abramovich era, Londoners have won five English league titles, won the Champions League twice, and in February won the first Club World Cup in history.

“I part with the pain of the club, especially since it happens this way.

However, I believe it is in his best interest.

I hope I can visit Stamford Bridge one last time to say goodbye to everyone in person.

I am happy to have been a part of Chelsea and proud of all our accomplishments.

Chelsea and its fans will always be in my heart,” Abramovich concluded.

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The owner's official announcement was made shortly before the start of the FA Cup match between Chelsea and Luton.

Perhaps that is why the meeting turned out to be very nervous, and the Blues twice found themselves in the role of catching up.

However, Timo Werner's goal and two assists, as well as accurate shots from Saul Niguez and Romelu Lukaku, helped the team get the better of the Championship representative and reach the quarterfinals.

At a press conference, Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel was asked to comment on the news of the imminent change of ownership.

The German admitted that he is calm about the possible sale of the club and tries to focus on solving sports problems.

“Of course, all the players follow the news on the Internet and watch TV ... Perhaps everyone was affected by this news to a different extent, but we need to focus on football, and today we managed to do this and get the victory.

I'm not too worried about changes.

I feel like I belong and hope for the best.

I always try not to worry about those things that I can’t change,” said Tuchel.

At the moment, it is not known for certain how much Abramovich intends to gain for the sale of Chelsea.

According to the Daily Mail, the Russian wants to receive more than £3 billion (€3.6 billion), while it is possible that he will have to slightly reduce requests.

The mediator in the transaction is the American bank Raine Group, which had previously cooperated with the "aristocrats" in 2018.

Abramovich was unable to visit the UK at the time due to visa issues and was seriously considering getting rid of the club.

The buyer was the private American investment firm Silverlake and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Now there may be many more contenders for Chelsea.

The same Wyss confirmed that he does not rule out the possibility of acquiring the club, but only as part of a consortium.

And the Bloomberg publication announced interest in the "blue" from unnamed investment companies.

The most unexpected was the statement of former UFC champion in two weight categories Conor McGregor.

He said that he was ready to consider the option of buying the current winners of the Champions League, and also published a video from a football simulator, in which he appears as a team coach.