Chelsea: Ken Griffin to 'fly to London with Tom and Laura Ricketts for meetings with the club'

Ken Griffin, who is set to become the major shareholder at Chelsea if the Ricketts bid wins the race to replace Roman Abramovich, will to fly to London with Tom Ricketts and Laura Ricketts to hold talks with the club's hierarchy, reports say.

The deadline for the shortlisted bidders to make improved offers has been set at Monday and, with just days remaining until the end of the sales process, Griffin has decided to jet into the capital to underline his commitment to the proposal.

Indeed, according to The Telegraph, Griffin - who holds a net worth of £21.7billion - will speak to Blues chairman Bruce Buck as well as directors Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenebaum this week, in a move described as 'significant'.

Griffin has not taken a hands-on, public-facing role in the bid, which has largely been fronted by the Ricketts. However, with the group having been criticised for past comments by supporters, he has opted to conduct a face-to-face meeting.

A spokesperson for Griffin, Zia Ahmed, has told The Telegraph: 'Ken is joining the Ricketts team in London this week.'

The consortium have not provided official confirmation that Griffin will become the club's major shareholder if they are named as the preferred bidder, but the Ricketts, it is understood, will take control of the day-to-day running of Chelsea.

The influential family already own the Chicago Cubs baseball team but recently faced up to fierce criticism in the wake of emails and comments from Joe and Pete Ricketts, both of whom are not part of the bid, being thrust into the public eye.

Currently, it remains Tom and Laura who are fronting up the bid.

Groups rivalling the Ricketts' bid have recently expressed their anger at what they believed to be preferential treatment shown to them.

The Times claimed that one of the four groups remaining in the sale was concerned that the process' rules were 'breached' after Buck organised a meeting between Tom Ricketts and former Blues player Paul Canoville.

Canoville called for the bid from the Ricketts to be rejected, but he has since softened his stance. He will not, however, throw his weight behind a proposal.

'If they want the Ricketts family to buy the club from Roman Abramovich, just tell the rest of us now and spare us what is an awful lot of hard work,' a bid adviser said.

The development came after a letter was sent to bidding groups on March 1 insisting that no contact should be made with the executive during the sales process.

The meeting was held ahead of the Ricketts receiving notice from Raine Group, a US bank leading the sale, that they had made the shortlist, it is believed.

Meanwhile, Hansjorg Wyss - another bidder left in the fight to take over at Stamford Bridge alongside Todd Boehley - is said to be confident about his own approach.

According to Blick, a newspaper in Switzerland, Wyss has admitted that Boehley's bid in 'in the lead', but he has not ruled out also flying to London for talks.

Currently, Wyss is cross-country skiing in Finland. Asked about his bid, he reportedly said: 'Next week we'll probably know more, now I have to cook.'

Stephen Pagliuca's bid has also been shortlisted.

He is the co-owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team, but would have to cease being a shareholder in Atalanta in Serie A if he were to buy Chelsea.

The consortium led by Sir Martin Broughton is still in the process, too.