The Hana Financial Group were also brought to Candy’s consortium by Kim, who is believed to still be in talks with other Korean financers about joining their proposal if they make the cut and Raine will allow it.

British global investment firm Centricus revealed they had submitted an offer for Chelsea, which included a number of season-ticket holders, and they, along with Candy and the rest of the bidders, were waiting to find out exactly how many groups Raine would progress.

Sources believed the most likely scenario would be that two or three of the bidders would move forwards to undergo further checks, from Chelsea, the Government and the Premier League, before an overall winner is picked.

The Ricketts bid has already won the approval of Greg Hands, the Conservative MP for Chelsea and Fulham, who revealed he had spoken to Tom Ricketts. 

In a message on Twitter, Hands placed ticks next to ‘runs a heritage sports stadium’, ‘brought success to the Cubs’, ‘coming to London to mee the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and Chelsea Pitch Owners’, ‘understands community’. Hands also said he would be happy to meet the other bidders.

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson was believed to be among the bidders waiting for news, while reports had claimed that the Saudi Media Group had made a “competitive” offer.