Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams Join £2.5Bn Bid to Buy Chelsea

Femi Ashekun/

Sport stars Serena Williams and Sir Lewis Hamilton are reportedly prepared to invest in Sir Martin Broughton’s bid to buy Chelsea.

According to Sky News, the seven-time Formula One champion and the 23-time Grand Slam winner are ready to pledge £10million each to the deal. Chelsea is expected to be sold for around £2.5bn.

A spokesperson for Hamilton said, “We can confirm that Lewis has joined the Sir Martin Broughton bid, however the financial figure reported in the Sky article isn’t accurate.”

Broughton, the former chairman of British Airways and Liverpool FC, has apparently been in talks with the duo for weeks.

Hamilton has previously spoken of how he supports Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal and has been a fan since he was five years old. 

Sky News also claim that Hamilton would “play a formal role in Chelsea’s future efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion” if Broughton’s bid ends up being successful.  

Chelsea, the current Champions League holders, have been up for sale since March – shortly before Russian owner Roman Abramovich was hit by sanctions from the government due to his ties to Russia president Vladimir Putin.

Raine Group, the bank who are overseeing the Chelsea sale, could pitch their preferred bidder to the government as soon as this week.

Broughton, who is spearheading the bid, is a lifelong Chelsea supporter and has a wide range of investors to raise funds.

The 40-year-old Williams, meanwhile, is a part-owner of Los Angeles based women’s team Angel City who will play their first match this year.  

“I think that’s really cool for athletes to own something. It’s interesting, because you have a different type of pride when you’re there and you’re playing for something that you own,” Williams said of her involvement in an Instagram live session with actress Natalie Portman, who is also a part owner of Angel City.

“It’s not really done in tennis, so it’s really interesting to have an opportunity to do that in a different sport. It would be a wonderful feeling to have that. You want to play better, to play harder – not only are you playing me, you’re playing me in my stadium.”

Steve Pagliuca, the owner of NBA team Boston Celtics, is leading a rival bid to buy Chelsea and also owns a stake in Italian Serie A team Atalanta.

He has partnered up with Larry Tanenbaum, who backs the Toronto Maple Leafs, and have committed to “lifetime ownership” of Chelsea if their joint bid to buy the club is successful.

The other bid in the running is fronted by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly.

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