Over the past few weeks, things have been pretty turbulent for Chelsea off the pitch as the team's current owner, Roman Abramovich has been slapped with sanctions due to his prior associations with Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has generated a lot of negative attention for many wealthy Russians who have had dealings with Putin, and the fallout, namely the UK government deciding to hit him with sanctions, has forced the billionaire tycoon to sell the club he's been at the helm of for nearly 20 years.
There have been quite a few names bandied around in the press as speculation grows as to who the next owner - or owners - of Chelsea will be. One group that recently entered the fray is the Ricketts family, who will be well known to MLB (Major League Baseball) owners due to having owned the Chicago Cubs since January 2009.
An American bank, the Raine Group, has also been tasked with handling the sale of Chelsea. Because of the sanctions levied against him, Abramovich can't profit from the sale, making the financial details that much more tricky.
In the meantime, the selection of candidates has been narrowed down. According to reports, the two main candidates are fellow American Todd Boehly, who's co-owner of the LA Dodgers and British businessman Sir Martin Broughton. Broughton's inclusion is interesting as he was once the former chairman of Liverpool, a position he took over briefly when spearheading the sale of the Reds to American-based Fenway Sports Group back in 2010.
Some reports claim that the aforementioned consortium headed by the Ricketts family is still in contention, but it's not clear fully if they passed the final hurdle.
Hopefully, Chelsea's new owners will be decided sooner rather than later to finally put an end to what has been a rather turbulent and unpleasant past few weeks for the London giants.
