British property developer Nick Candy working on a £2.5bn bid to takeover Chelsea

British property developer Nick Candy is working on a £2.5billion bid for Chelsea, which includes plans for a £1.5bn rebuild of Stamford Bridge, to be submitted by the end of the week.

The 49-year-old Chelsea fan is talking to a number of American investors about forming a consortium to launch a formal bid for the club.

Candy and his potential partners are understood to value the club some way short of Roman Abramovich’s £3bn price tag.

But a bid of £2.5bn would be regarded as credible in the circumstances, as the Russian looks for a quick sale given he faces being sanctioned by the Government as soon as next week.

The American billionaires who have been linked with a bid for Chelsea include Chicago Cubs chairman Thomas Ricketts, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and Crystal Palace shareholder Josh Harris.

‘Nick Candy is actively exploring a number of options for a potential bid for Chelsea Football Club,’ a spokesperson for Candy confirmed to Sportsmail. ‘Any bid would be made in conjunction with another party (or consortium) and we have serious interest from several international partners.

‘Mr Candy has a huge affinity with Chelsea. His father was asked to play for the club and he has been watching matches at Stamford Bridge since the age of four. The club deserves a world class stadium and infrastructure and Mr Candy’s unique expertise and background in real estate would be a hugely valuable asset to delivering this vision.’

Candy would put some of his estimated £1.5bn fortune into the takeover bid, but he is also being courted by American investors because of his property expertise, headquarters in west London and knowledge of Chelsea.

One of the keys to any takeover being successful and making Chelsea sustainable in the long term would be executing the planned redevelopment of Stamford Bridge, which has stalled under Abramovich.

Candy is short of current owner Roman Abramovich’s £3million asking price for the club

Chelsea announced plans to build a 60,000-seat stadium on the same site in 2015 and received planning permission following a lengthy battle with local residents two years later. But the project was scrapped in 2018 after Abramovich’s visa renewal was blocked by the Government in light of the Salisbury poisonings.

That planning permission has since expired and the club’s options for moving are limited by the Chelsea Pitch Owners owning the stadium’s freehold, as well as being permitted to block any relocation unless it is endorsed by 75 per cent of their membership.

Candy’s group would commit to rebuilding Stamford Bridge despite such obstacles, however, and are convinced that Chelsea can be run profitably with the potential for growth even after an outlay of around £4bn. 

The emerging NFT and crypto markets are relatively untapped by Premier League clubs, while a bigger stadium would enable them to almost double match-day revenues. 

Abramovich instructed The Raine Group to find a buyer for Chelsea last week after his initial plan to hand the club over to the Chelsea Foundation charity trustees collapsed in the face of their doubts and opposition from the Charity Commission.

Candy (left with his brother Christian) are luxury-property developers with a joint net worth of £1.5bn

Property developer Candy, 49, is a Chelsea fan and has followed them since the age of four

The American merchant bank are understood to have around 20 expressions of interest, but only half-a-dozen of them are regarded as credible buyers.

Numerous parties from all over the world have since expressed interest in buying the club, with the Swiss-American duo of Hansjorg Wyss and LA Dodgers part owner Todd Boehly having already submitted a bid.

New York Jets owner Johnson is reported to be preparing a bid, while Turkish businessman Muhsin Bayrak has claimed he is due to hold further talks with the club tomorrow. 

Crystal Palace shareholder Harris was also linked with making a bid for Chelsea last night, but such a move would be complicated by his existing stake at Selhurst Park and the need for him to sell those shares, which could slow down the process.

The Raine Group have set a deadline of Tuesday for bids to be tabled, but that date is only for initial proposals and Abramovich will continue to entertain offers submitted afterwards.