Roman Abramovich could cause serious problems for Chelsea, with reports that he wants to make a U-turn on the decision to cancel the club’s loan.
Abramovich decided in February to sell the Blues, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the need to sell accelerated by UK government sanctions on the Russians.
It was initially reported that the billionaire was willing to forgo £1.6bn the club owed him in loans to help the sale go through.
On Tuesday, however, things hit a roadblock, with the Times reporting that Abramovich is “trying to renege” on giving up money owed.
The report says that Chelsea told the UK government and the preferred bidder that they wanted to restructure the deal, with £1.6bn going to the Blues’ parent company, which appears to be linked to the current owner.
The sanctions against the 55-year-old meant his assets were frozen and the money from the sale was intended to be used for good causes, including those in war-affected Ukraine.
Daily Mail sportswriter Rob Draper explained about Twitter what repercussions Abramovich’s decision could have on the Premier League side, and they could be very serious.
The Premier League meets on June 8 to form the new league 22-23. If Chelsea is not licensed to operate by then, and is now only licensed with the permission of the UK government, then it cannot be part of PL. simple…..
— Rob Draper (@draper_rob) May 3, 2022
Imagine if it got to May 30 and there was a real chance Chelsea could pull out, but somehow an offer from Ratcliffe could save the day if the UK government agreed to leave the proceeds to an independent charity. Well, that would be better than letting Chelsea walk away…
— Rob Draper (@draper_rob) May 3, 2022
Draper explained that although there is a deadline for the sale, May 31, the club would be in trouble if they were not sold by June 8, when the Premier League clubs meet.
At that point, their temporary license, which allowed them to continue trading for the rest of this season but also prevented fans from buying tickets and merchandise, would have expired.
Without a license to operate as a business, the club would not be able to continue in the league, something that obviously everyone would want to avoid.
That is clearly not the case, with an American-led consortium to be named as the preferred bidder and Ratcliffe remains a potential buyer, but things could be just as bad in this current scenario.