As of now, there are four serious contenders to buy Chelsea, with reports indicating that final proposals are due to be submitted on Monday, April 11th.
One group are the Ricketts family, well known to Major League Baseball fans due to their ownership of the Chicago Cubs.
However, the American group, who have also teamed up with two other US-based billionaires and are seeking to pay cash outright for the London giants, now find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation.
That's because, according to reports, of unearthed emails written by a member of the family years ago between 2011 and 2012.
Without delving into too much detail, the gist of the emails included rhetoric that would be seen as discriminatory against Muslims, something that the Ricketts family have naturally moved to try to distance themselves with - especially in today's social climate.
Although the emails were written by the family patriarch, Joe Ricketts, a devoted Trump supporter who is not actively involved in the bid to buy Chelsea, the discovery of these messages has certainly rattled sections of Chelsea's fan base, which represents a diverse group of people all over the world.
It's not surprising that his son, Tom Ricketts, has moved quickly to distance himself from his father's comments, while highlighting his sister Lisa, who's openly gay, and the family's efforts to be strong champions and advocates for diversity initiatives, namely LGBTQ rights.
In addition to publicly proclaiming their support for diversity, equity, and inclusion, the family have also sought to make it clear that they will not try to get Chelsea involved in the controversial European Super League, while also looking to redevelop Stamford Bridge should they successfully gain ownership of the club.
It will be quite interesting to see if this discovery about the Ricketts patriarch and his leanings have any impact on the family's success in taking over the club.
