Ricketts family, Blitzer and Harris, Pagliuca and Boehly shortlisted for Chelsea takeover

Raine is aiming to complete their section of the sale by the end of April

Raine Group has shortlisted bids from Todd Boehly, David Blitzer and Josh Harris, the Ricketts family and Boston Celtics owner Stephen Pagliuca as the four candidates to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich. As reported by The Athletic, Nick Candy and Woody Johnson were out of the race to buy the Blues on Thursday night and it is understood that Raine has now shortlisted the final four bids for the club. Pagliuca - who owns NBA outfit Boston Celtics and co-chairs private equity group Bain Capital - is thought to be in with a strong chance of buying Chelsea. The 67-year-old also owns a 55 per cent stake of Serie A club Atalanta.

Chelsea expected to be sold for a price of over $3 billion

The Athletic add that Raine is aiming to complete their section of the sale by the end of April, at which stage they will put forward their preferred bidder to the government and Premier League. The Blues are expected to be sold for a price of over $3 billion (£2.27 billion), with Abramovich - who was sanctioned by the UK government earlier this month - putting Chelsea up for sale. The billionaire owner was described by the UK government as a "pro-Kremlin oligarch" and had his assets frozen as a result of his alleged ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Ricketts family face backlash from Chelsea fans

Chelsea supporters have criticised the Ricketts family over their ownership of the baseball franchise, the Chicago Cubs, as well as a series of anti-Muslim comments by the head of the family, Joe Ricketts in 2019. Leaked emails showed the patriarch of the family describing Muslims as "my enemy." He later apologised for his comments. Related links:

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