Following the invasion of Ukraine, the club was placed up for sale before its owner, Roman Abramovich, was sanctioned for his apparent ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a British billionaire, made a £4.25 billion bid on Friday.
It’s believed that the late offer caused other bidders to get confused.
As part of his pitch, Ratcliffe, the largest stakeholder of chemical company Ineos, promised to spend £1.75 billion in the club over ten years.
The offer, however, came on Friday morning, some weeks after the official bid deadline of March 18th.
Chelsea and Boehly have yet to comment on his group’s preferred bidder status.
According to Forbes, the American individual investor and businessman has a net worth of $4.5 billion (£3.6 billion) and has made a bid for the club of roughly £2.5 billion.
He is a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a major league baseball team in the United States, as well as the Los Angeles Sparks, a professional women’s basketball team in the United States.
He also holds a minority position in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss millionaire, Barbara Charone, a public relations expert from the United States, Jonathan Goldstein, a British businessman, and Daniel Finkelstein, a British journalist, are among the members of his consortium.
Sir Martin Broughton and Stephen Pagliuca, the co.’s of the Boston Celtics, were among the other consortiums in the race to acquire Chelsea, but both have since been informed that their bids were rejected.
Chelsea is operating on a special government license that expires on May 31, but Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries stated on Thursday that the club was on the “borrowed time” to complete the transaction.
