Despite giving shortlisted bidders two key dates, April 11 – the deadline for improved offers – and April 18 – the week in which a preferred bidder will be presented to Government, the door has not been completely closed on the possibility of a big 11th-hour bid being considered.

Raine did not comment when asked by Telegraph Sport whether or not a late bid from outside the shortlisted groups could still be considered and sources have suggested that if it was big enough and viable, then it could still be presented to Chelsea.

There has not, however, been any suggestion at this stage that a group is preparing an 11th-hour bid to gatecrash the process and the eventual buyer of Chelsea is still currently expected to come from the four shortlisted bidders, with the Boehly consortium considered the favourites.

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has confirmed he made a bid to buy Chelsea and said it was “disappointing” not to make the final shortlist.

Johnson had been considered to be among the early frontrunners to buy Chelsea and submitted a bid of around £2billion for the club.

The 74-year-old revealed he became a fan of Chelsea while he was the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017-21.

“My interest in Chelsea is that I’m a fan of Chelsea,” said Johnson. “When I was over there, I couldn’t be a fan of a particular team. I had to be diplomatic. I had to like all the teams, but we were Chelsea fans. It’s London’s team. The concept of New York and London, I thought was one that we could do pretty well with that. I thought it would be another interesting endeavour for us.”

With shortlisted bidders able to make improved offers, Chelsea’s final sale price is set to top £2.5bn and the preferred buyer will also have to commit a further £1bn towards the renovation of Stamford Bridge and the squad.

“Not getting Chelsea [is] disappointing,” said Johnson. “But the numbers have gotten so enormous that on one hand I’m disappointed and on the other hand, financially I think it’s going to be a huge challenge.”