Prospective Chelsea owner speaks out as Thomas Tuchel makes a vow to the club

Chelsea have been plunged into a crisis after Abramovich had all of his UK assets frozen, with the west London club he has run since 2003 facing a financial crisis with their banking and sponsorship partners all freezing their involvement with the club.

A preferred bidder will be confirmed after next Friday's deadline for offers passes, with lifetime Chelsea fan Candy among the front-runners.

“I’ve supported Chelsea since the age of four, my dad was asked to play for Chelsea. I love Chelsea,“ he told Sky Sports. I don’t mind where it ends up, even if it’s not with me. As long as it’s in safe hands.

On fan involvement in the ownership, he added: “100 per cent, they should be involved in the ownership both on the board and economically.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed he will stay at the club until at least the end of the season and insisted he would drive the sanction-hit club to next week’s Champions League game in Lille himself if he had to.

The Blues boss, speaking after Sunday’s victory over Newcastle thanks to Kai Havertz’s last-gasp winner, revealed little has changed for the club’s first-team set-up so far in the wake of owner Roman Abramovich’s UK Government sanctions.

Abramovich had all his UK assets – barring Chelsea – frozen on Thursday, with the Government claiming to have proved the 55-year-old’s links to Vladimir Putin amid Russia’s continued war in Ukraine.

Tuchel reaffirmed his immediate commitment and expects a sale to be carried out in standard timescale.

“There’s no doubt I’ll stay until the end of the season, absolutely,” the German said. “We just have to wait and we still have to go day by day because everything can change.

“But as you know, the situation is clear – the club’s for sale, and hopefully it will go through to sort things out and give us a perspective.

“But it’s pure speculation and I have no further information than you already have.

“And that’s what I meant with day by day, which is anyway a good way to live your life, and now we are forced to do it because there are some circumstances we cannot influence, and at some point it’s not so nice because we have no strings to pull and no actions to do to help.

“But on the other side it gives you the freedom to focus on what we can influence, and this is our performances and to show the spirit.

“Because of course the focus is on the first team, our players and me. But Chelsea is much more than the first team of the Premier League – it’s a massive club with huge tradition.

“And there are hundreds of people who I’m pretty sure worry more than our players and staff, me included.

“And for them it’s important that we show the spirit and give them a bit of a distraction, some hope and show what we are about, and we are about football because we love the game.”