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Ever since Roman Abramovich announced his decision to put the decorated Chelsea FC on sale, speculations over the potential bidders are rising. Club owner Roman Abramovich confirmed his intentions on Chelsea website by stating that it's in the club's best interest for him to sell now. The Russian tycoon has owned the club since 2003 and is reportedly hoping to get at least $2.5 billion before the marked deadline, i.e. Friday (March 4).
While the likes of UFC star McGregor have already expressed their wish to explore opportunities, now it has been learnt that an owner of Peshawar Zalmi, a franchise cricket team in the Pakistan Super League, has thrown in the hat to buy the London-based club.
Zalmi's owner Javed Afridi, who is a renowned entrepreneur in Pakistan, has shown interest in replacing Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich as Chelsea's owner. As per a report in Khaleej Times, Afridi's team held a meeting on Wednesday (March 2) with sports and legal agencies in the UK. "Afridi has shown keen interest in buying the reigning champions of UEFA and seems quite serious about the process," a highly-placed source was quoted. Zalmi's owner believes that it's the right time to invest in football. And an Asian participating in a run will make it an exciting affair.
Apart from the franchise cricket team, Afridi is also the Chief Executive Officer of Haier Pakistan, owns MG JW Automobiles Pakistan Pvt Ltd. and is the Co-founder/CEO of JoChaho. Peshwar Zalmi had a reasonably successful campaign in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League. The team finished the season on 3rd in the points table.