Roman Abramovich will attempt to buy Spanish team Valencia once the sale of Chelsea is completed, a rival bidder in the process has claimed.
Abramovich confirmed he was selling Chelsea but there is now a suggestion that he may re-enter football with a hope of buying the La Liga club, amid reports that Singaporean businessman Peter Lim has put Valencia up for sale. That is according to Miguel Zorio, who is a rival bidder for Los Che.
The Blues are desperate to secure a new owner amid a budget crisis, with their funds dictated by the British government in the wake of the UK sanctions imposed on Abramovich due to his links to Russia president Vladimir Putin.
Those sanctions were then followed by the EU, which means that any of his assets that are in EU territory could also be taken and frozen.
The London club are desperate to secure new ownership soon as they continue to feel the impact of the UK government’s sanctions on Abramovich’s assets.
Barclays have also suspended the club’s bank account and there’s a possibility they could face financial difficulty between now and the summer due to the precarious situation.
Zorio has now claimed that he will make official his attempt to buy shares in the Spanish team from Lim this month. Valencia have fallen into financial ruin under their absentee owner and have now become a mid-table club in La Liga, with multiple players sold and not replaced over the past 18 months.
There has now been a claim from Zorio that Lim has attempted to sell the club to Abramovich and has accused the Valencia owner of leaking the news to the media. Zorio has suggested that the Russian oligarch is the other contender to buy the club.
Plaza Deportiva report a letter from Zorio as stating: “Peter Lim has tried to sell the club in London for €250million and has not succeeded. Lately, he has leaked to international media that he has two purchase offers, mine and that of the Russian oligarch of Chelsea. And from here, I tell him that either he puts €50m every year to compensate for the losses he generates or he sells to us. Whether he likes it or not.”
Unhappy Valencia fans have protested against their club’s ownership in recent years and have accused them of asset-stripping the club in anticipation of a future sale.
