Paul Merson has claimed that this could be the end of Chelsea as a force in English football, as he questioned whether the new possible owners will spend as much as Roman Abramovich did, as he told Sky Sports.
The Sky pundit used Liverpool as an example and claimed that, just like the Merseyside club, they are a club that were purchased for millions but are worth ’billions now’.
Given that, it’s a possible problem the new Chelsea owners will face and that’s the fact that they will have to spend billions just to buy the club.
Then there is a case of financially trying to compete at the top and manage the squad like the now-UK sanctioned Abramovich used to do.
All in all, everything is up in the air with the west London club, but this is what Merson had to say about the club he supported as a boy.
On whether Chelsea’s days of competing at the top are over: “It could be,” said Merson. “You are talking about £3bn this club cost him (Abramovich). That’s the prices I have seen.
“I don’t know how higher this club can go. They have won everything in the game. You look at Liverpool, they bought that club for so many millions that it’s worth billions now.
“Whoever buys this football club, they will have to love Chelsea like Abramovich did because if they don’t, then it’s going to fizzle away.
“I don’t see anyone coming into this football again and spending that kind of money. And I worry for Chelsea now. When you have seen such riches, you can’t live with being poor. It was in a song. And that’s the way it is.”
One thing is for sure, if things do continue to take a turn for the worst for Chelsea, then they do have the players, squad and academy to deal with some of the problematic situations that might come their way.
The key thing they would want is new owners to be brought in as soon as possible, so their future can become clearer.
That way, they will then know that Thomas Tuchel won’t go anywhere, nor will certain players out-of-contract leave.
But with Abramovich still sanctioned by the UK Government, which affects Chelsea, then they can’t really move in the market like they would want.
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