Former Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom government on March 10th but he had already put the club on sale. This meant that he could not profit from the sale of the club whether directly or indirectly. Reports emerged last week claiming Abramovich is looking for £1.5bn loan to club to be repaid. The Russian billionaire has now come out to deny that he is looking for his loan to be repaid and instead insisted that he is committed to giving the proceeds of the sale out to charity specifically to the victims of the Ukraine war following the country's invasion by Russia. 

The UK government will not allow the sale to go through not until it is completely certain that the sanctioned billionaire will not profit from the sale. The consortium led by US businessman Todd Boehly is the preferred bidder to buy Chelsea. Roman Abramovich will have the final say on who buys the club as the sale is being conducted by Raine Group, an investment bank appointed by him. The government issued a license to Chelsea that expires on 31st May and they risk running out of business if the sale of the club would not have been completed then and the license fails to be extended. The EPL is meeting on June 8 to constitute the coming season in September by which time Chelsea will need to have an operating license to be considered part of the league. Chelsea is operating under a special license right now and it is not able to purchase or sell players as well as extend contracts that are due to expire.