CHELSEA chairman Bruce Buck has strongly denied rumours that Roman Abramovich is considering selling the club.
The Russian billionaire bought the Blues in 2003 – but has not attended a match at Stamford Bridge since Spring 2018 – when the UK government delayed his visa renewal.
Bruce Buck has reiterated Roman Abramovich’s happiness at the club
Soon after Abramovich withdrew his visa application – and shelved plans for a new 60,000 seater stadium for Chelsea.
It is believed that the visa complications were in retaliation towards Vladimir Putin, in the aftermath of the Novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in May 2018.
But despite the frustrations and the shelved stadium plan, Buck has poured cold water on rumours of the Blues being on the market.
He told The Guardian: “So far as I know, absolutely not; to the contrary. I have never heard a word from Mr Abramovich: ‘Let’s get ready for a sale,’ or something.
“Because of the political situation, there are people who think they might want to buy Chelsea Football Club at a bargain. We do get inquiries and we really have nothing to say to these people.
“In terms of being involved, in looking at new players, talking about whether to extend players’ contracts, do we buy this player, do we sell this player, [Abramovich] was always intimately involved in that from day one and is just as intimately involved now.
“He talks to Marina [Granovskaia] – the board member who supervises the football operation – several times a day, every day. Marina has been doing that for seven or eight years; that hasn’t let up or changed at all.”
When quizzed about whether the club seems to be on hold, Buck replied: “I understand what you are saying and it is hard to disprove it, except to say: ‘Let’s see what happens in the next transfer window.’
“The point I am making – it’s a glib one – if we go out in the next window and spend a zillion, it’s pretty hard to argue that things are on hold.”
Abramovich has shown a lot of interest in Chelsea academy, with talented youngsters previously having been criminally underused by previous regimes.
And Buck confirmed the Russian’s joy at the success this season of the club’s home-grown young guns.
He said: “The transfer ban has led to more opportunities for the young players.
“I can’t deny that if there wasn’t a transfer ban we might have splurged out on one or two or three players.
“So, yes, it was some of that; it was Frank Lampard, the players that were ready, a whole collection of things that resulted in where we are now.
“It makes Mr Abramovich very happy, because he is very interested in the academy. I would guess he’s one of the very few owners that have been to lots of academy matches.”
The club will find out in the coming days if their appeal against their transfer ban will be successful.
But Buck would not be drawn on the matter: “This is a subject difficult to comment on, it’s in litigation. The club feels Fifa was wrong, and that we did abide by the regulations.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
