Bruce Buck: Chelsea 'Absolutely Not' for Sale, Roman Abramovich Still Involved

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said he has been given no indication that the club is up for sale or that owner Roman Abramovich is no longer committed to it.

It is believed Abramovich has not attended a match at Stamford Bridge since spring last year, when his UK visa renewal was delayed and he subsequently withdrew it.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian's David Conn, Buck said of the suggestion Chelsea could be sold:

"So far as I know, absolutely not; to the contrary. I have never heard a word from Mr Abramovich: 'Let's get this ready for a sale,' or something. Because of the political situation, there are people who think they might want to buy Chelsea football club at a bargain. We do get inquiries, and we really have nothing to say to these people.

"In terms of being involved, in looking at new players, talking about whether to extend players' contracts, do we buy this player, do we sell this player, [Abramovich] was always intimately involved in that from day one and is just as intimately involved now."

Buck added that the owner still speaks to club director Marina Granovskaia multiple times every day and "that hasn't let up or changed at all."

Granovskaia, who serves as the club's transfer chief, joined Chelsea in 2010 as a representative of Abramovich and became a board member three years later.

According to Conn, Abramovich's visa delay was sanctioned by the British government as a reprisal against Russian president Vladimir Putin. The government held Putin directly responsible after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury in March 2018.

Two months later, Abramovich took Israeli citizenship instead and put on hold plans for a £1 billion rebuild of Stamford Bridge, which would have taken the capacity to 60,000.

Although Buck conceded it was "hard to disprove" that the club is on hold in light of that, he suggested a spending spree in the transfer market could show that is not the case.

Chelsea were banned from signing players in the summer, and the same will be the case in January, prompting manager Frank Lampard to rely on academy graduates such as Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham.

Football writer Zach Lowy believes being forced to use their young players has benefited Chelsea, but Abramovich would otherwise have splashed the cash to reinforce the squad:

Despite the lack of reinforcement—with the exception of Christian Pulisic, who had been signed in January and loaned back to Borussia Dortmund—Lampard has guided Chelsea to fourth place after 13 matches, seven points clear of fifth.

The Blues will no doubt look to spend next summer when their transfer ban is up. They lost Eden Hazard to Real Madrid and are yet to replace him, while the likes of Pedro and Olivier Giroud are in the final year of their contracts.

The emergence of their young talents means they may not need to do an enormous amount of business, though, particularly if they do manage to end the season in the top four.