Chelsea takeover result of ‘great deal of research’

FORMER Football League chairman Keith Harris has claimed new Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich turned his back on the prospect of buying Manchester United because it would have cost him around £700m.

And Harris, who in his profession as an investment banker was Chelsea’s advisor on the eventual takeover deal, says the Russian billionaire did a “great deal of research” into which club he wanted.

Harris says Arsenal and Tottenham were almost certainly on that list, but both were rejected, along with United before Abramovich decided on Chelsea.

Harris said: “There was a great deal of research done before going for Chelsea, he looked at a number of other Premiership clubs.

"They were Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea. I can understand why he chose Chelsea for a host of reasons.

“Why not Manchester United? If you think of the sums of money involved, United are the most successful financially. They would have cost £650 million to £700 million to purchase. That’s a huge chunk of change.

“He paid £60m for the shares outstanding at Chelsea in the market place, and buying the company meant assuming responsibility for the debts, and that was another £80m. So he got Chelsea for £140m.

“As for Manchester United, what can you do with them, how can you improve them? At Arsenal you can buy them but you would have to spend a lot to buy and build a stadium. You have all that problem beforehand and it would be expensive.

“Spurs have spent money on their ground, but is it big enough and in the right place? How much money would you then have to spend on the team to get it up to scratch?”

Harris, who refused to deny that there are still takeover possibilities at Old Trafford, claimed:

“You look at Chelsea, the assets are in place and they have spent a lot of money developing the ground and building it into one of the best in the Premiership.

“The infrastructure of the team is good, sure there is money to be spent but the backbone is strong.

“Only time will tell on whether it was money well spent and if United was too expensive. But I have worked for some very wealthy people who, I know, do not spend their money to lose it. One suspects that this is seen as an investment.”