Ken Griffin flew to London to meet Tom Ricketts and Laura Ricketts on Tuesday over their bid to buy Chelsea, as the group held face-to-face discussions with club executives ahead of next Monday’s deadline for the club’s shortlisted bidders to make improved offers.

It is unclear whether or not Griffin was present in the meeting Tom and Laura Ricketts held with Chelsea officials, but it has been confirmed to Telegraph Sport that the Citadel billionaire was in London with the pair on Tuesday.

The Ricketts held talks with Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck and directors Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenenbaum, and Griffin’s decision to travel to London to add his support is seen as significant.

Up until now, Griffin has remained in the background of the bid that has been fronted by the Ricketts, but his trip to London demonstrated his commitment to the process and the group’s determination to try to win over their doubters. The expectation is Griffin will become the major shareholder if the Ricketts-fronted bid is successful.

Spokesperson for Griffin, Zia Ahmed, told Telegraph Sport: “Ken joined the Ricketts team in London this week.”

There has been no official confirmation that Griffin will become the major shareholder, but, despite the fact they will not take the controlling stake, the Ricketts, who already own the Chicago Cubs baseball team, will be in charge of the day-to-day running of Chelsea if their bid comes out on top.

Other than Griffin, the Ricketts Family Investment Group includes the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, and Telegraph Sport this week revealed that the group are still in talks with potential new investors to further boost their bid.

The biggest challenge for the Ricketts and Griffin is to have convinced Chelsea and the club’s supporters that they can guarantee an inclusive and harmonious ownership, following the controversy and fan protests created by emails and comments attributed to Joe and Pete Ricketts, who are not part of the Chelsea bid.

Laura’s presence in the meeting was seen as particularly key to the talks around diversity and inclusion. She is the only openly-gay owner of an American sports franchise and has campaigned for LGBTQ issues and equal rights.

The Ricketts were on Wednesday due to fly back to Chicago, where they will wait to find out whether or not their meeting with Chelsea was productive.