“?Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had interest in as many as five different Premier League clubs before he purchased the Stamford Bridge club in the summer of 2003, including the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, a new book has revealed.
In a passage published by the Daily Star from agent Jon Smith’s new book ‘The Deal’, it is revealed that Russian billionaire Abramovich wasn’t simply set on Chelsea and had the opportunity to invest his vast wealth into various others instead.
“He had the idea to buy a football club early in 2003 and, within three months, he had shaken hands with Ken Bates,” Smith explained.
“His advisers initially drew up a list of clubs across five European countries and thereafter Roman gradually whittled it down to England. They were then left with a shortlist of five clubs: Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.”
Until now it had long been rumoured that Abramovich decided to buy a football club after watching on from the stands as Manchester United played Real Madrid in the Champions League in a 4-3 thriller at Old Trafford in April 2003.
“I was told Roman’s camp held preliminary talks with Daniel Levy at Tottenham, but a formal offer was never tabled,” Smith continued.
“They also enquired about Arsenal but were instructed that the Gunners were not for sale. Manchester United were looking for around £500m, which while not financially prohibitive made them far less appealing.
“Chelsea were more receptive. My understanding is that an offer was made at 40p per share at the first meeting with Trevor Birch, and that evening Roman and Ken met at the Dorchester for the first time and shook on the deal.”
Chelsea and Liverpool faced off in what was effectively a playoff for 4th place and a Champions League berth on the final day of the 2002/03 campaign. Chelsea won and made it into Europe’s elite club competition, which potentially also contributed to Abramovich’s thinking.
Could that have cost the Reds a new billionaire owner and the success that followed?
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