Chelsea sale: Trio emerge as bank set to whittle down bidders

Chelsea’s sale could jump ahead quickly after Friday’s deadline for bid submissions.

New York merchant bank the Raine Group will reportedly whittle down a shortlist of preferred bidders following Friday’s deadline to make an offer.

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The fast pace of the Stamford Bridge club sale means a shortlist of three bids could be in place by early next week.

A strong nucleus of bidders are ready to submit their proposals, and a clutch of those suitors strengthened their hands significantly amid yet more remarkable developments on Thursday.

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Lord Sebastian Coe joined Sir Martin Broughton’s bid, adding heavyweight credence to the former Liverpool chairman’s candidacy to buy the Blues.

The World Athletics president, London 2012 Olympics chief and lifelong Chelsea fan’s support of Broughton would be understood to find favour in Government circles.

Chicago Cubs owners the Ricketts family confirmed their Chelsea bid in a bullish statement, and added influential hedge fund boss Ken Griffin to their consortium.

British property tycoon Nick Candy recruited Chelsea favourite Gianluca Vialli to his bid, with the former Italy striker and current Azzurri assistant coach sure to win favour with Blues supporters.

Vialli’s sports investment and merger company Tifosy’s expertise would also add substance to Candy’s bid.

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