the times | Friday March 18 2022 2GM 61
FootballSport
The field for the race to buy Chelsea will
be reduced to no more than three
preferred bidders by early next week, ac-
cording to sources close to the process.
The New York bank appointed by
Roman Abramovich to find a new
owner set a deadline of today for bids,
with more than 100 parties said to be
interested in acquiring the European
and Club World Cup champions.
The government is understood to
have advised Chelsea that the quickest
way of achieving a sale is for Abram-
ovich to agree that the proceeds will be
put into a frozen third-party or escrow
account before it is distributed to good
causes. That would help accelerate ap-
proval for a special licence allowing a
sale once it has been submitted by the
club. Abramovich had committed to
donating the proceeds to help the vic-
tims of the war in Ukraine but as a re-
sult of his sanctioning he cannot have
any influence over the money.
Several consortiums have been
enlisting high-profile Chelsea fans to
back their bids.
It was confirmed yesterday that
Michael Klein, a prominent American
investment banker, and Creative Art-
ists Agency, the US talent management
agency, are behind a bid being fronted
did not make the cut for the November
games against Albania and San Marino
and, while his club form has improved
of late, Southgate made clear he wants
more from the 21-year-old.
“These boys are playing at a really
high level so there is a big challenge for
Jadon,” he said.
The Manchester City right back Kyle
Walker was left out until the Nations
League games in June to give an oppor-
tunity to Trent Alexander-Arnold, of
Liverpool, and Chelsea’s Reece James.
There remains a doubt over the fitness
of some players with a check on James,
who has not played for Chelsea sinceSouthgate:
I will assess
Rashford dip
who is experiencing the first protracted
downturn of his career having also lost
his starting place under Ralf Rangnick,
the United interim manager.
Southgate spoke to Rashford before
dropping the forward, who has fre-
quently pulled out of England squads
because of injury and who has man-
aged only 320 minutes for the national
team since November 2019.
He plans to follow up that conversa-
tion with further discussions after the
looming friendly double-header, which
begins the countdown to England’s
participation at the World Cup in Qatar
in November. “I think Marcus is very
realistic,” Southgate said. “He has not
been getting in the United team con-
sistently and he will be searching as
much as anybody to get that form back.
“We know he is desperate to do well
and maybe we can help a little bit with
that. I think it is important, perhaps
after this camp, for me to go and sit with
him and find out a bit more about what
is going on.
“From time to time I do go and do
that with players, especially when a
player is with us as often as he has been
over a period of four years.
“But, you are right, in the last eight
squads he has ended up pulling out of
five, while Maguire has been in the
team and a key part of the team for mas-
sive matches over a long period of time.
I don’t see any logic in us leaving him
[Maguire] out of a squad at this moment
in time.”
The competition for places, with Phil
Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka,
Emile Smith Rowe and Raheem Ster-
ling all selected, was the primary reason
for Sancho’s continued exile. Sancho
continued from back
England squad
Goalkeepers J Pickford, N Pope,
A Ramsdale
Defenders T Alexander-Arnold,
C Coady, M Guéhi, R James,
H Maguire, T Mings, L Shaw,
J Stones, B White
Midfielders J Bellingham,
C Gallagher, J Henderson, M Mount,
D Rice, J Ward-Prowse
Forwards T Abraham, P Foden,
J Grealish, H Kane, B Saka,
E Smith Rowe, R SterlingCoe and Charone, a music PR officer,
are backing separate bids for ChelseaSouth Africa leave New
Zealand on brink of exit
Cricket South Africa notched a
two-wicket win over New Zealand
yesterday to virtually guarantee
themselves a spot in the Women’s
Cricket World Cup semi-finals and
leave the hosts in danger of
elimination.
South Africa bowled the home side
out for 228 in 47.5 overs in Hamilton,
then chased down the total with three
balls to spare. They are the only team
to match tournament favourites
Australia’s record of four wins from
four matches. It was a third loss in
five games for New Zealand, who face
a must-win clash against the holders
England in Auckland on Sunday.Shiffrin lands fourth World
Cup with races to spare
Skiing Mikaela Shiffrin claimed the
overall World Cup title with two races
to spare when she took second place
in the final super-G of the season in
Courchevel, France. The American
opened an unassailable 236-point
lead at the top of the standings over
Petra Vlhova, of Slovakia, who
finished in 17th place, outside the
points.
Shiffrin, 27, who now has four
overall World Cup titles to her name
and three Olympic medals, recovered
from a disappointing Beijing Winter
Games, having won Wednesday’s
downhill when she took a significant
step towards her title.Davis Cup in
Britain after
four-year gap
Tennis
Stuart Fraser Tennis Correspondent
The Davis Cup will return to Great
Britain for the first time in four years
after the LTA succeeded in its bid to
host the 2022 edition of the inter-
national men’s team competition at the
Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
The Scottish city has been selected as
one of four European locations to host
the group stages from September 14-18,
joining Bologna, Malaga and Hamburg.
It gives the likes of Andy Murray and
Cameron Norrie another opportunity
to represent their country on home soil
as Britain seek to secure a place in the
last-four knockout draw in November.
The Emirates Arena has a capacity of
8,200 and has proved a popular venue
for previous Davis Cup ties, memorably
being used twice during Britain’s run to
the title in 2015.
This is part of a five-year deal which
has been agreed between the LTA and
the International Tennis Federation,
though it is conditional on Britain qual-
ifying or receiving a wild card each year.
“This is brilliant news for British ten-
nis fans,” Scott Lloyd, the LTA chief ex-
ecutive, said.
“Over the years we have seen exactly
how much this competition has meant
to both players and supporters, and it
plays a big part in our ambition to stage
more events around Great Britain, en-
abling us to open up tennis to more
people. Glasgow has been home to
some fantastic ties in the past, including
our victories over the USA and
Australia in 2015.”
The LTA also confirmed that a bid
has been submitted to host the 2022
Billie Jean King Cup Finals, as reported
by The Times last week. The female
equivalent of the Davis Cup is sched-
uled for November 8-13 and is seen by
the LTA as a considerable opportunity
to further capitalise on the interest
surrounding Emma Raducanu.
Chelsea bids to be cut from 100
to three for Abramovich deadline
by Lord Coe and Sir Martin Broughton,
the former chairman of British Airways
who was briefly the chairman of
Liverpool before brokering the Fenway
takeover at Anfield in 2010.
The Ricketts family, who own the
Chicago Cubs baseball team, are also
considered serious contenders given
the wealth of their bid partner, Kenneth
Griffin. The American fund manager
has a fortune of more than £20 billion.
But some insiders still believe that
the consortium comprising the LA
Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly, the
London property tycoon Jonathan
Goldstein and the Swiss billionaire
Hansjorg Wyss remains a leading bid.
They have had their ownership
proposal in place for some time, having
expressed an interest in buying Chelsea
in the past and have already tabled a bid
approaching £2.5 billion.
Sources claim at least one bidder has
matched Abramovich’s valuation of
£3 billion, but the Boehly group believe
that their stewardship of the Dodgers
and their expertise in property de-
velopment — given the need to re-
build Stamford Bridge — makes
them attractive.
Yesterday they added Danny
Finkelstein and Barbara Charoneto their consortium, who would be-
come non-executive board directors.
Finkelstein, a lifelong Chelsea fan, is
a columnist at The Times who was part
of the working group that advised
Tracey Crouch MP on her fan-led
review of English football. In the past he
has also provided advice to Conserva-
tive prime ministers John Major, David
Cameron and Theresa May.
Charone is a legendary figure in the
field of music PR, having worked with
Madonna, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart
and Depeche Mode. American-born,
she moved to London in the 1970s and
supports Chelsea “religiously”.
In a statement Finkelstein said: “I am
delighted to be part of the Todd Boehly
consortium seeking to buy
Chelsea FC. These are
smart guys, who don’t justhave the money to invest, they get how
to use it. They understand about data
and they understand about fans. I’m
really excited about the plans for fan
involvement, which I believe in strong-
ly. I want Chelsea to be pioneers.
“I’m passionate about Chelsea to the
point of eccentricity. I want owners
who will invest but are also insightful
and use modern methods to keep our
club on top of the world.
“This is a bid from fervent sports fans,
really successful backers of champions.
Just look at the LA Dodgers: what they
have invested and what they have won.”
Another potential bidder for Chelsea
emerged yesterday with Aethel
Partners, a London-based investment
firm, claiming it has registered a bid of
more than £2 billion. It said its blueprint
for the club would be to keep the
management in place and to commit
£50 million in short-term financing to
keep the club solvent.
A spokesman said Aethel Partners
would build a new stadium on the
Stamford Bridge site and is committed
to improving the women’s team and the
club’s community links. It is unclear
what the source of the funding would
be as Aethel Partners’ most recent
accounts stated it had assets of
£193,000, but the spokesman said
it owned the rights to an iron ore
mine in Portugal.March 5 and did not travel to Lille for
Wednesday’s Champions League
victory, to be made over the weekend.
Southgate suggested that the Crystal
Palace left back Tyrick Mitchell could
be drafted into the squad for the first
time in the event of injuries and was full
of praise for team-mate Guéhi, who has
been captaining England Under-21. He
was preferred to AC Milan’s Fikayo
Tomori and Southgate said: “Marc has
[been] consistent. I have been really
impressed with him on and off the ball.”
England host Switzerland a week
tomorrow before Ivory Coast visit
Wembley a week on Tuesday.PETER POWELL/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCKRashford, who has struggled to hold down his place at United, clashed with fans, inset, after Tuesday’s European exitMatt Lawton, Martyn Ziegler,
Ashley Armstrong