One more step towards the takeover of Chelsea. The Premier League on Tuesday approved the offer submitted by the group led by American businessman Todd Boehly, the organization announced in a press release. This consortium made an offer of 4.25 billion pounds (4.97 billion euros) on May 7 for the takeover of the London club, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich since 2003.

The sale remains subject to the agreement of the British government, recalled the Premier League. Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government was “working closely with the club” to complete the sale.

In the turmoil after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian billionaire, targeted by London sanctions, had put the London club up for sale on March 2, insisting that he would not seek repayment of the loans taken out by the club, throughout its 19-year rule and that all proceeds from the operation would go to war victims. After a long bidding process involving several groups, Todd Boehly and his investment partners were chosen by the New York bank Raine Group, which is overseeing the sale.

The group of investors is made up, in addition to Todd Boehly, of Mark Walter, with whom he is co-owner of the Dodgers, the baseball franchise of Los Angeles, of the Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss, founder of the manufacturing company of medical equipment Synthes, and US investment firm Clearlake Capital.

Abramovich had bought the “Blues” in 2003 for 140 million pounds. Thanks to the financial manna of the oligarch close to the Kremlin, Chelsea, until then a second knife of English football, suddenly transformed into a major player on the national and European level, accumulating in particular five titles in the Premier League and two Champions Leagues (2012, 2021). This season, Chelsea finished third in the Premier League and qualified for the next Champions League. The club lost in the League Cup and FA Cup finals, both times to Liverpool.