Chelsea
owner Roman Abramovich has hired New York bank Raine Group in
preparation for selling off the club, according to The Sunday Times.
The
bank is said to have valued the club at £2billion and Chelsea have
engaged their advisors after they helped Manchester City sell a 13 per
cent stake in the club to China Media Capital for £265m in 2015.
It
is unclear whether they would look for new owners or to sell a stake in
the club which Abramovich bought for £140m in 2003 but the move comes
at a critical time for Chelsea, who look overwhelmed by the scale of the
wealth of clubs such as Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain.
In
May, following the political sanctions Great Britain imposed on Russia
in response to the Salisbury poisoning, Chelsea announced that
Abramovich was putting off a proposed £500m expansion of Stamford
Bridge.
They have failed to qualify for the Champions League for
the second time in three years, having previously qualified for the
competition every year since Abramovich took over.
They have also
still to convince Eden Hazard to sign a new contract or risk having to
sell him to Real Madrid next summer when he will have just one more year
on his deal.
Chelsea need to rebuild the team under new manager
Maurizio Sarri after having allowed talents such as Mo Salah, Kevin de
Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku to leave the club in recent years.
Chelsea have enjoyed a long spell of success since Abramovich completed his takeover in the summer of 2003.
They
became the first London club to the win the Champions League in 2012,
as well as earning five of their six league titles in this period.