Abramovich gets 770 million reasons to sell up

Last week, we heard that Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim, the tycoon who led the Manchester City buyout, was part of an international consortium interested in buying Chelsea.

Today, it has been reported that awesomely-named German investment manager Holger Heims (the handsome devil pictured above next to the Doc) is part of the eight-person consortium, whose members hail from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

There have not yet been any formal talks with Roman Abramovich, but the German money man has insisted any takeover negotiations would be ‘friendly’.

According to German paper Bild, the price tag of the West London club could be around €770m (£719m) - more than three times the sum paid for Manchester City, and more than five times the £140m Roman Abramovich dished out to take control in 2003.

Abramovich is said to have spent around £600m on Chelsea football club, so if the £719m price is accurate, the Russian could virtually break even if he decides to sell. In the present economic climate, that would be an absolutely incredible feat, and a very tempting reason to “cash out”.