Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will discuss the sale of the club in a new book set to be released this summer after giving his first interview in four years.
Abramovich, who remains sanctioned by the UK Government due to alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, has conducted a two-part interview about the £2.5 billion sale of Chelsea in 2022 to American consortium Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, a deal which took place after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The interviews took place in Abu Dhabi in January and in Istanbul a year prior and are said to include Abramovich’s account of his initial takeover of Chelsea FC in 2004: the sanctions, his efforts in the previous peace process and his suspected poisoning in March 2022.
Before these, Abramovich’s most recent interview was to Forbes in March 2021 and, aside from a short statement in January that year about Frank Lampard’s sacking and statements about Chelsea’s ‘Say No to Anti-Semitism’ campaign, he had not given an official interview since 2006.
The book named “Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC” is written by Nick Purewall and will also tell other stories from that accelerated 95-day sale – run by Raine Bank under the supervision of the UK government – and will be released by Biteback Publishing this summer.
The funds from the sale remain in a frozen bank account while Chelsea are aiming to qualify for the Champions League and win a trophy for the first time under the new American ownership.
[BBC]