According to Ben Jacobs, a deal is set to be made between Abramovich and the DCMS in order for the £1.5 billion in debt at Chelsea to be written off and put into equity.

However, a sale of the west London side is set to be completed in the next few weeks, with the reigning World and European Champions being put up for sale at the beginning of March.

Raine Group, who are overseeing the sale, have made a shortlist of three bidders who are through to the next stages of the process.

The report also claim that members of the UK Government will not ‘pick or influence’ Raine Group’s preferred bidder, with their role only being to license the sale of the club.

Raine, the merchant bank have denied any speculation over potential delays in the takeover process, and they are still set to pick their preferred bidder by the end of April.

It was thought that the shortlist of three bidders would be cut down to two, but this is now believed to not be the case.

Sir Martin Broughton, Todd Boehly and Stephen Pagliuca are the top bids leaders to take over the club.

Reports have also suggested that the aforementioned bidders have been asked to guarantee their ownership of the club by the year 2032.