Kieran Maguire drops ‘cryptic’ Roman Abramovich verdict amid £2.3bn Chelsea twist
The UK government are in a ‘very awkward’ situation after Roman Abramovich refused to sign off on the £2.3bn he pledged from the sale of Chelsea.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about Abramovich’s ‘cryptic’ comments following the sale of the club.
As per the Daily Mail, former Blues owner Abramovich is refusing to sign off on the £2.3billlion he pledged to the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following the invasion, Abramovich’s assets were frozen by the UK government and he was heavily sanctioned due to his involvement with Vladimir Putin.
Abramovich pledged the money from the Chelsea sale to the victims of the conflict, but he is refusing to sign off on the distribution of the money as he wants it spread between both Russia and Ukraine.
Maguire believes the situation has become ‘very messy’ and insists the only winners in this situation are the lawyers involved in the case.
“I think this is a very awkward position for the UK government because they froze Roman Abramovich’s assets as opposed to seizing them,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“So they are still the property of Abramovich.
“Abramovich is a fairly cryptic guy at the best of times, and his initial statement said that the proceeds of the sale of the club were to be distributed to the victims of the conflict.
“But, you could argue that some of the victims of the conflict are the families of the young men in the Russian army.
“Their families have suffered losses and as far as the Russian forces are concerned, losses are very high.
“It looks as if the money is also linked sort of indirectly to trusts in Cyprus, and Abramovich and his family will be concerned that this is part of their inheritance, so they might have objections.
“The whole thing is very messy.
“As usual, the only winners in this are going to be the lawyers as they squabble over the ultimate destination and the speed of the distribution of the money from the sale of the football club.“
In other news, Kieran Maguire questions major Chelsea deal as Premier League ban looms