The London club, which has managed to succeed in different competitions for several years, is looking for buyers in China, U.S. and the Middle East

Few are the European clubs that have maintained a regularity in the last decade and Chelsea FC is one of them. The English club has won several titles since the Russian billionaire Román Abramóvich became its owner in 2003, which has made it one of the most successful and popular teams in Europe.

Chelsea acquired enormous power with the Russian billionaire, to such an extent that the Londoners are one of the two non-Spanish teams that have won the UEFA Champions League in the current decade. The team's success has been undeniable. However, on August 26, the world soccer was greatly surprised after knowing that Abramóvich hired an investment bank to put the team on sale.

According to The Sunday Times, the Russian magnate hired The Raine Group, an investment bank specializing in sports, technology, media and telecommunications, to help Chelsea find a buyer or several investors in the United States, China and the Middle East. But, why has the Russian billionaire put Chelsea on sale?

Political tension

The sale of Chelsea by Roman Abramovich is driven by the political disagreement between England and Russia, which takes more than six months. The political tension originated in March of this year when Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, was poisoned along with his daughter Yulia in England. According to El Mundo, this international problem prompted England to slow down the visa to the Russians.

Leern español: ¡El Chelsea FC está a la venta!

This, coupled with the fact that Román Abramóvich is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, meant that the owner of Chelsea could not renew his visa. In fact, the Russian billionaire could not enter Britain to watch Chelsea's decisive matches, so he decided to process the Israeli citizenship as a contingency plan to enter England.  

Nevertheless, the European country ruled that this does not give him the faculty to work in its territory. "Downing Street has made it clear that Abramóvich can not work in Britain with his Israeli passport, although he can visit it for up to six months at a time," the Daily Mail says.

This strong political tension caused Abramóvich to stop the plan of demolition and reconstruction that he had for Stamford Bridge, stadium of Chelsea, by almost one billion euros. It is a situation that has seriously annoyed the Russian billionaire, so he would be seriously decided to stop investing in a country that has denied him the visa process and that has complicated his working conditions.

Another beautiful day at Stamford Bridge ☀️ pic.twitter.com/9lrS5O6aS8

– Stamford Bridge (@StamfordBridge) June 19, 2017

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The perfect business

Abramóvich sees in the sale of Chelsea one of the best deals of his life, because since he acquired the club in 2003 the London team has been greatly appreciated. It is for this reason that Chelsea has already had economic pretenders in the past. According to the Daily Mail, Jim Ratcliffe, the wealthiest man in Britain, bid about 2 billion euros, but the Russian rejected outright the offer waiting for a better bidder.

According to The Sunday Times, Abramóvich hired The Raine Group to find investors in the U.S., China and the Middle East, and would be asking for more than 2.3 billion euros for Chelsea, which would break the world record for the sale of a soccer club.

"A sale in Abramóvich's valuation would almost triple the most expensive purchase mark in the history of soccer: the purchase of Manchester United by the Glazer family in 2005 for £ 790m (about 870 million euros)," says the same media.

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the inauguration of Chelsea by Roman Abramovich … https://t.co/Et8CaAGk1M pic.twitter.com/yZuncAj1kq

– Chelsea FC Spanish (@ChelseaFC_Sp) July 1, 2018

The sale of Chelsea for more than 2,300 million euros would be the perfect business for Abramóvich. According to the Daily Mail, the Russian bought the club in 2003 for just 155 million euros approximately, took over the debts of the company for about 90 million euros and won countless millions of euros with marketing and awards through successes sports

Selling Chelsea would leave a huge fortune to the Russian businessman, who invested relatively little, made his company profitable for 15 years, and sold at a price almost ideal.

One of the biggest businesses in the history of soccer could be effective in a matter of months, so one of the most outstanding teams of the twentieth century could return to the top of world soccer if it finds buyers with an ambitious sports project. Strong political tensions have put Chelsea FC on sale, so the London team could have a change of course after 15 prolific years.

LatinAmerican Post | Javier Aldana

Translated from "El negocio perfecto: ¡El Chelsea FC está a la venta!"