Rumours were rife in the summer that Chelsea was potentially up for sale, with the UK's richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, being heavily linked with buying the club from Roman Abramovich. The reasons why were clear - the potential redevelopment of Stamford Bridge had been put on hold with the club citing a 'lack of investment opportunities' as the main reason, while Abramovich's future in the UK was in doubt after he was rejected for a new UK business visa. Ratcliffe already owned Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport in 2017 and had a season ticket at Stamford Bridge, and back in the summer of 2018 the Daily Mail claimed that Abramovich had rejected a £2billion offer from Ratcliffe. But six months down the line and with Brexit in full swing, reports in the Sunday Times suggest that Ratcliffe is looking to relocate to Monaco in a bid to save a whopping £4bn in tax. Interestingly enough, it was first reported in August of last year that Ratcliffe was relocating to Monaco, despite being a strong advocate of Britain leaving the European Union during the referendum campaign. Ratcliffe was a co-founder of INSPEC and made his money through shale gas, before creating the company Ineos in 1998, a multinational petrochemicals giant. His net worth is estimated to be around £21.05bn, compared to Abramovich's which is reportedly at $11.6bn. Talk of Abramovich selling Chelsea has quietened down since the summer as the attention switched back to what was happening on the pitch, with the focus now largely on what the Russian will do with Maurizio Sarri as he comes under pressure having dropped out of the top four after a 6-0 thrashing by Manchester City - the heaviest loss in the Abramovich era. But where does this leave Chelsea and a possible purchase in the future? Ratcliffe's relocation to Monaco means he can still purchase the club should he wish to - just because he's no longer living in the UK doesn't mean he can't buy Chelsea from the comfort of the principality. However, it still doesn't look like Abramovich has any interest in selling the club at this moment in time, meaning it's unlikely Ratcliffe will come back in with a bid any time soon. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android . Available to download from the App Store and Google Play .
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