Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes 11th-hour £4.25billion bid to buy Chelsea

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has tabled a last-minute £4.25billion bid to buy Chelsea.

Ratcliffe held talks with Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck on Thursday and submitted the offer for the Stamford Bridge club on Friday.

The 69-year-old explored in detail a possible bid for the Blues back in 2019, only to buy French club Nice instead.

But a spokesperson for Ratcliffe confirmed the British business magnate's offer to buy Chelsea, with the bid understood now to represent the highest for the club.

"We put an offer in this morning," Ratcliffe told The Times.

"We are the only British bid. Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London. We have no profit motive because we make our money in other ways."

Chelsea have told the consortium led by Stephen Pagliuca, part-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics and Serie A's Atalanta, it is not the preferred bidder - leaving Ratcliffe's offer as one of three remaining alongside:

Chelsea will still hope to have a new owner in place by the end of May, despite any delays that come from Ratcliffe's late entry into the race for the Stamford Bridge club.

Once the Raine Group selects a preferred bidder, the Government must then grant a new licence to allow the sale to be completed.

Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale on March 2, amid Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine.

The 55-year-old was then sanctioned by the UK Government on March 10, with Downing Street claiming to have proven links between the Russian-Israeli billionaire and Vladimir Putin.

Abramovich has owned Chelsea for 19 years, leading the club to 21 trophies in a glittering tenure.

Sky Sports News' chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:

"This is a twist in the tale. It's not entirely unexpected because we've known for a long time