‘We are negotiating’ – Turkish billionaire joins race to buy Chelsea

Turkish billionaire Muhsin Bayrak has joined the race to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich, his company AB Group Holding have confirmed.

Abramovich announced on Wednesday night that he was planning to sell the football club.

Chelsea are already understood to have received several serious bids from prospective buyers. They expect more offers to be submitted.

‘Chelsea’s sale will be helpful to Ukraine’, and other mails…

And now construction, energy and technology magnate Bayrak has revealed he is among those to have lodged a bid for the Blues.

“We can definitely confirm our bid for Chelsea,” AB Group Holding general manager Seda Bayrak told the PA news agency.

“We have forwarded our offer regarding this.”

Merchant bank the Raine Group is handling the bid process for Abramovich, who has led Chelsea to 21 trophies in his near 20-year stint with the west London club.

Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine has forced Abramovich’s decision to sell the club, with the 55-year-old considering owning Chelsea the “privilege of my lifetime”.

The sale process is understood to be at the stage of gathering bids, with reviews only taking place once all offers are submitted.

American billionaire Todd Boehly fronts the most high-profile bid for the Blues so far, with the LA Dodgers part-owner having teamed up with Swiss magnate Hansjorg Wyss.

Turkish businessman Bayrak runs one of his countries most successful enterprises however, and remains determined to push forward with a purchase of the Blues.

“We will fly the Turkish flag in London soon,” said Muhsin Bayrak.

“We are negotiating the terms of the purchase of Chelsea with Roman Abramovich’s lawyers.

“We are in the negotiation phase for the signatures.”

Elsewhere, Thomas Tuchel has admitted Chelsea cannot stop Abramovich’s sale plans affecting the club’s negotiations with out-of-contract stars.

Toni Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen are still to finalise their plans for next season, with all three senior defenders’ deals expiring at the end of the season.

“Maybe the bottom line is we cannot help it; it’s what it is,” said Tuchel.

“And you never know, maybe there’s a positive effect on the negotiation, maybe there’s a negative effect.

“We cannot predict and I would like not to predict, not to start predicting all scenarios, because we just lose focus on it.

“But of course everybody has a different situation, everybody feels differently about it.”