The American financier Todd Boehly has not been deterred by Roman Abramovich’s rejection of his offer to buy Chelsea, and is ready to up his bid.
Boehly is keen on making a new approach in spite of insistence from the Stamford Bridge club that they are not for sale.
According to the Telegraph, the LA Dodgers’ 20 per cent stake holder will return to the table with a new offer having made Chelsea his No 1 target.
Abramovich has rejected four offers for the club in 18 months with prospective buyers looking to take advantage of the owner’s current predicament.
The 53-year-old is steering the club from his homeland due to a visa stand-off sparked by the cooling of diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia last year.
Abramovich subsequently shelved plans to build Chelsea a £500million state-of-the-art new stadium.
Crucially, the planning permission for that construction expires on March 31 next year, a deadline that Boehly could keep a close eye on when looking to time his next bid.
A new stadium would clearly significantly increase the value of the club and Abramovich is understood to have already increased his valuation of Chelsea in light of Silver Lake’s £500m purchase of 10 per cent of Manchester City.
It is now believed that he values Chelsea at £3.74bn, but Boehly is still eager to pursue a deal.
The Eldridge Industries owner is worth an estimated £4.72bn and has made no secret of his desire to purchase a Premier League club, calling it the ‘best product in the world’.
He previously told Bloomberg: ‘You can never predict these things. One of the nice things about football clubs is that they’re relationship-driven and team driven, and therefore it’s unlikely one just gets put up and sold by auction.
‘So you develop long-term relationships and get to know them, but ultimately whether or not something happens I don’t know. But what I do know is I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot about the fan-base, the global opportunity. It’s the best product in the world.
‘The billion-pound question is the price. It’s hard to buy quality and not have to pay up. Then it’s a question of can you continue to build on what you’ve acquired at that price?
‘That’s the question. I continue to believe there is a global opportunity for the best clubs. Ultimately, it comes down to can something get done that both sides think makes sense?’
The American made his fortune as founder of Eldridge Industries after leaving Guggenheim Partners with huge investments in media, sport and property. Eldridge employ more than 2,500 across their business.
He was educated at the London School of Economics, part owns Women’s National Basketball Association side Los Angeles Sparks and has shares in professional esports organsiation Cloud9.
