Chelsea's rumored change of hands has made another splash, with British giant Ratcliffe announcing that it will purchase Chelsea through its business, INEOS Group, for £4.25 billion ($42 billion), with £2.5 billion being the purchase price of the club, and the remaining £1.75 billion to be used as the club's future working capital.
Ratcliffe, 69, is the head of chemical giant INEOS and is known as the "King of British Chemicals". According to the 2022 Forbes Rich List, he is the richest man in the UK with a fortune of 16.3 billion pounds. Back in 2019, Ratcliffe was interested in buying Chelsea, but was rejected by then-chairman Roman Abramovich, who then sought to buy Ligue 1 club Nice.
There are currently three other potential buyers for Chelsea, former British Airways chairman Paul Bowden, NBA Boston Celtics shareholder Stephen Pajka, and MLB team Los Angeles Dodgers shareholder Todd Boyley.
However, Abramovich recently asked the three potential buyers for a £500 million increase in the price, bringing the total to £3 billion, which has caused an outcry from the buyers. Ratcliffe seems intent on taking advantage of this opportunity to step in.
It's worth noting that Ratcliffe is a big fan of Manchester United, but he had made it clear that he would not buy the team due to the fact that United's business operations were in the doldrums and they were not doing as well as they could be in terms of attracting reinforcements.
