What if one of the world’s biggest football clubs almost vanished because of politics, war, and an impossible deadline?
That’s exactly what almost happened to Chelsea FC in 2022—and it took a mix of late-night strategy sessions, global negotiations, and even a call from Romelu Lukaku to keep it all from falling apart.
A new book titled Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC peels back the curtain on how close the Blues came to the brink.
Marina Granovskaia’s Bold Gamble That Could Have Cost It All
At the heart of this drama was Marina Granovskaia, Roman Abramovich’s famously loyal right hand.
In March 2022, with the clock ticking down, she considered doing the unthinkable—completely ignoring the May 31 deadline set by the UK government for Chelsea to be sold.
Abramovich had just been sanctioned due to his suspected ties to Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine.
Chelsea were suddenly under tight restrictions—even banned from selling match tickets.
But Granovskaia wasn’t convinced that the government would actually let Chelsea crumble.
She reportedly believed the threat was a bluff—and that a proper club sale takes a year, not three months.
Behind the Scenes, Panic Was Brewing
While Granovskaia was ready to call the UK’s bluff, others inside Chelsea and the government didn’t share her confidence.
The risk wasn’t about losing money on a transfer deal like Torres in 2011—it was existential.
If they gambled and lost, Chelsea FC could cease to exist.
Eventually, the club’s leadership decided it was too dangerous to play chicken with the government.
They hit full throttle, working 20-hour days to try and get the sale done before the deadline.
The stakes were enormous, and Sanctioned lays out just how desperate and chaotic those weeks became.
Abramovich Breaks His Silence—and Shares His Side of the Chaos
The book features two rare interviews with Roman Abramovich himself—one in Istanbul in 2024 and another in Abu Dhabi in 2025.
Though his words are limited to a few lines, the stories around him paint a powerful image: a man navigating war zones in Ukraine, acting as an informal peace broker during an international conflict.
On one such trip, after negotiating in Kyiv, Abramovich was reportedly poisoned.
He passed out, suffered severe vision problems, and had peeling skin and hair loss.
It was a terrifying experience that left a lasting physical toll.
The Sale Announcement That Shocked Everyone at Chelsea
In the middle of this political and humanitarian storm, Abramovich shocked Chelsea by announcing the club was for sale—just before an FA Cup match against Luton Town.
The statement was rushed together at Heathrow Airport in under 30 minutes by two aides, and it promised all proceeds would go to victims of the war in Ukraine.
The players and coaches, blindsided, found out just before the match.
Petr Cech had to rally the team emotionally in the changing room.
Somehow, they won 3–2. Tuchel and Emma Hayes handled the aftermath with grace, even fielding endless questions about geopolitics instead of football.
The Sanctions That Changed Everything—Even Abramovich’s Bike
While the political heat intensified, the sanctions hit Abramovich personally.
One story in Sanctioned illustrates this in a surprisingly human way.
After Chelsea’s Club World Cup win in early 2022, he received a gift from the Abu Dhabi royal family—a racing bike used by Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.
Abramovich brought it back to London on his private jet.
But once sanctions hit, he couldn’t access the bike again—it was trapped in storage, a tiny yet symbolic reminder of everything he lost almost overnight.
Football Meets War: When Metaphors Became Real
Football is full of war-like language—battles, bombs, rocket shots—but in this case, those metaphors turned real.
Chelsea’s survival as a football club was being debated while real bombs were falling in Ukraine.
Suddenly, the idea of a “war chest” in the boardroom didn’t feel so clever anymore.
The U.S. investment bank Raine was brought in to oversee the sale.
Out of 280 interested buyers, they had to narrow it down to just a few.
Eventually, the final showdown was between three main groups.
Boehly, Clearlake, and a Beverly Hills Breakfast Deal
In March 2022, across the ocean in Beverly Hills, Todd Boehly sat down with Clearlake Capital’s Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano over breakfast.
They agreed to team up—and three months later, they closed the deal and saved Chelsea from disaster.
Meanwhile, Sir Jim Ratcliffe tried a dramatic last-minute pitch, showing up at Stamford Bridge with a handwritten offer supposedly made up of “British money only.”
But it wasn’t enough. Boehly and Clearlake had already established themselves as frontrunners and were too far along to lose.
The Bizarre First Phone Call After the Deal Was Done
As the ink dried on one of the most dramatic sales in sports history, the first phone call Boehly received wasn’t a congratulatory one—it was from Romelu Lukaku’s camp.
The message? Lukaku had no intention of staying at Chelsea.
It was a strange but fitting return to “normal football problems” after months of geopolitical crisis.
And in its own way, that call symbolized exactly what Chelsea wanted: normalcy.
How Tuchel Was Willing to Drive the Team on a Minibus
Government restrictions during the sanctions phase were brutal—even away-game budgets were slashed.
Chelsea had a £20,000 travel cap, half of what Premier League teams usually spend.
Thomas Tuchel didn’t flinch. He even offered to drive the team himself in a minibus if needed.
That kind of leadership kept the team focused while chaos reigned above their heads.
What Zelensky Said Behind Closed Doors About Abramovich
Perhaps one of the most surprising claims in Sanctioned is that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky privately asked the UK not to sanction Abramovich.
Why? Because he was reportedly helping create humanitarian corridors and acting as an unofficial mediator.
Delegates from Ukraine have credited Abramovich with saving thousands of lives in Mariupol and beyond. But despite his efforts, the sanctions came down hard.
Chelsea’s future was left hanging by a thread—and only just survived.