Chelsea Q&A: What is next for the club, its players and Abramovich?

It has been a seismic day in the history of Chelsea after their Russian owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government early on Thursday.

The decision to freeze the Blues owner's assets, including his Premier League club based in west London, comes in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The UK Government says Abramovich has links to president Vladimir Putin, despite his denials.

Abramovich announced last week that he is looking to sell the club, but Thursday morning's announcement means that process has been paused for now - and the ownership of the Blues is in the hands of the UK Government.

The big question is - now what? What lies ahead for Chelsea as a business and a community? What happens to the all-star squad that Abramovich helped assemble at Stamford Bridge? And can Abramovich still sell the club?

Sky Sports' chief news reporter Kaveh Solhekol answers all the necessary questions below...

"For the past couple of weeks, the UK government have asked the National Crime Agency to find a link between Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Putin.

"They needed to prove beyond doubt that Abramovich was close to Putin, and obviously they have that evidence now and have been able to freeze his assets and issue such strong statements.

"We know for a fact Abramovich was involved in politics. He was a politician; he was basically a member of parliament in Russia, he was the governor of the Chukotka region until 2008.

"Abramovich was close to former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. It was because of his relationship with Yeltsin that he grew to be so rich. We know that he was close to Putin.

"For his part, Abramovich has stressed that was all in the past, that he is not involved in politics anymore. Obviously, the UK