Muhsin Bayrak Plans To Buy Chelsea From Roman Abramovich & "Fly The Turkish Flag In London"
Billionaire Muhsin Bayrak has claimed he "will fly the Turkish flag in London soon" after declaring himself as a serious candidate to buy Chelsea FC from Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea were put up for sale on Wednesday when Abramovich, the club's owner since 2003, published a statement on ChelseaFC.com.
Abramovich has lent the club around £1.5 billion over the past 19 years but in his statement he said that he "will not be asking for any loans to be repaid."
He also vowed to pass on "all net proceeds" from the sale to a new charitable foundation to help "all victims of the war in Ukraine".
This was the first time that Abramovich had publicly addressed the ongoing war in Ukraine since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched an invasion last month.
In response to the invasion, the UK government has already imposed financial sanctions upon multiple individuals due to their links to the Russian state and there is a suggestion that Abramovich could also be in their sights.
Abramovich denies allegations that he is close to Putin, but he is in the process of selling his UK assets, including Chelsea FC.
Muhsin Bayrak has emerged as a potential buyer of Chelsea Football Club
IMAGO/Robert Sambles
A consortium led by Hansjorg Wyss and Todd Boehly had appeared to be leading the race to replace Abramovich, before Bayrak spoke out on Friday.
"We are negotiating the terms of the purchase of Chelsea with Roman Abramovich's lawyers," Bayrak told Yeni Safak in Turkey.
"We are in the negotiation phase for the signatures. We will fly the Turkish flag in London soon.
"We made our offer. Because of the war with Russia and Ukraine in the world. Because they find Turkey safe, they want to get most of the after-sales money in Turkey.
"We are planning to sign soon."
He also said: "Our holding lawyers and Roman Abramovich's lawyers have been in touch since the first day Chelsea entered the sales process."
Bayrak is the chairman of the board of AB Group, which he founded in 1999. The company is worth around $11 billion, according to the Daily Mail.
The group has investments in crypto-currency, construction, tourism and energy.
READ MORE: Hansjorg Wyss Driven To Buy Chelsea By Lack Of Respect For Roman Abramovich, Says Journalist
The uncertainty surrounding the ownership situation could hamper Chelsea in their negotiations to keep players whose contracts are close to expiring.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen are all in the final six months of their contracts.
Chelsea face a fight to keep the star trio as clubs around Europe are able to strike pre-contract agreements to sign them on free transfers this summer.
Manager Thomas Tuchel acknowledged this was a problem but said on Friday, as quoted by BT Sport. "Maybe the bottom line is we cannot help it. It is what it is.
"And you never know, maybe there's a positive effect on the negotiation, maybe there's a negative effect.
"We cannot predict and I would like not to predict, not to start predicting all scenarios, because we just lose focus on it.
"But of course everybody has a different situation, everybody feels differently about it."
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