Roman Abramovich: Being part of Chelsea has been the honour of a lifetime

Roman Abramovich has given a final blessing to Chelsea’s sale to Todd Boehly and described owning the club as “an honour of a lifetime” in an emotional farewell to supporters.

The Boehly-led Clearlake Capital consortium is set to complete its £4.25billion takeover on Monday after the Premier League and UK Government approved the deal to take the club out of Abramovich’s hands due to his links with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The club have been operating under a special Government licence, which expires on May 31, as part of the sanctions on Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It has been nearly three months since I announced my intention to sell Chelsea FC. During this time, the team have worked hard to find the right custodian for Chelsea FC that would be best positioned to successfully lead the Club into its next chapter,” read the statement from Abramovich, who bought the club for £140million in 2003.

“The ownership of this Club comes with great responsibility. Since I came to Chelsea nearly twenty years ago, I have witnessed first-hand what this Club can achieve. My goal has been to ensure that the next owner has a mindset that will enable success for the Men’s and Women’s team, as well as the will and drive to continue developing other key aspects of the Club, such as the Academy and the vital work of Chelsea Foundation.

“I am pleased this search has now come to a successful conclusion. As I hand over Chelsea to its new custodians, I would like to wish them the best of success, both on and off the pitch.

“It has been an honour of a lifetime to be a part of this Club – I would like to thank all the Club’s past and current players, staff, and of course fans for these incredible years. I am proud that as a result of our joint successes, millions of people will now benefit from the new charitable foundation which is being established. This is the legacy which we have created together.”

Boehly has led the consortium, with Californian private equity firm Clearlake Capital set to own a majority of the shares. Other investors include US billionaire Mark Walter, a co-owner of the LA Dodgers with Boehly, and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss. The consortium passed the owners' and directors' test earlier this week.

The Chelsea Supporters' Trust have also given their backing to the takeover. "The CST has been very encouraged by the interactions we have had with Mr Boehly and his team over recent months, but the hard work starts now,” they said in a statement.

"It is now time to deliver both on and off the pitch in building a successful, inclusive and forward-thinking club with supporters at the forefront."

Boehly taking charge will end the period of uncertainty for the club during the back end of the season. Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea manager, is expected to have £200m to spend in the summer transfer window to strengthen a squad that lost its European champions crown last season.

The German has spoken to Boehly in the process of the takeover and has made it clear Chelsea need to act swiftly in the transfer market once they can operate as usual. Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde is a primary target as Andres Christensen and Antonio Rudiger are departing and there have been doubts over Cesar Azpilicueta’s future.

Abramovich’s era at the club brought a wealth of success, including two Champions League titles, the last of which was a year ago. Their five Premier League triumphs came under the management of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte.

With Manchester City already landing Erling Haaland to strengthen the squad of Pep Guardiola following their title win, Chelsea will be looking to add to Tuchel’s squad ahead of returning to pre-season.

The final hurdle for the takeover to go through was approval from Portugal, the country where Abramovich obtained his passport last year. Earlier this week Lisbon Government officials told Telegraph Sport that final approval had been issued.

Abramovich had obtained citizenship in Portugal last year and European officials also needed to wave through the deal, having followed the UK in sanctioning him.