Premier League chief Masters reveals fears over Chelsea ownership takeover

Todd Boehly took over Chelsea and beat the Government deadline in May.

Premier League chief Richard Masters has admitted there were fears that Chelsea’s ownership takeover would not be completed in the allocated timeframe.

American billionaire Todd Boehly took over Chelsea and beat the Government deadline of May 31 to complete the deal after previous owner Roman Abramovich had been sanctioned because of links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Masters said: “You’re in unique circumstances – nothing like this has happened before. There was obviously a genuine concern the sale wouldn’t take place in the timeframe that was available. That didn’t happen, thankfully.

“A lot of people worked extremely hard on it at the club’s end, Government’s end and Premier League’s end to make sure things were running as smoothly as possible. All I can say is we’re very pleased that it happened, obviously.”

When asked whether the Abramovich era was good for football, Masters said: “It’s difficult to say now with hindsight that it’s all been good, obviously, given what has transpired over the last six-and-a-half months.

“I think if you ask Chelsea fans, they’d give you a different answer. I think the situation we ended with has given the sport some challenges we’ve got to meet.

“Ultimately, there wasn’t an owners and directors test when Abramovich took ownership of Chelsea, and so I suppose the answer to the question is had there been that in place what would have happened and what safeguards we need to build in for the future.”

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