A consortium led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly is set to be named as the preferred bidder to buy Chelsea.
Following the deadline for offers to take over the Premier League giants from Roman Abramovich, a trio of official bids had landed before it emerged on Friday that Boehly had been given the go-ahead to complete a deal.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe had entered the running late on as a surprise fourth party interested in buying the Blues for £4.25billion before it was confirmed that Steven Pagliuca’s bid had failed.
Rivalling Boehly is an offer fronted by former British Airways chief Sir Martin Broughton, with backing from the likes of Formula One legend Sir Lewis Hamilton and tennis superstar Serena Williams.
But the American’s consortium appear set to seal the takeover with funding coming from Boehly, fellow Dodgers co-owner Mark Walters and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.
Reports suggest they will now have up to a week to finalise an exclusivity agreement for their £3.5bn-plus takeover.
All bids included significant investment in renovating Stamford Bridge and property developer Jonathan Goldstein has already been enlisted by the Boehly to help oversee the project.
