A spokesperson for Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirmed the offer to buy Chelsea: "This is a British bid, for a British club"; Boston Celtics owner Stephen Pagliuca out of running, leaving Todd Boehly and Sir Martin Broughton now battling it out with Ratcliffe for ownership.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has tabled a last-minute £4.25billion bid to buy Chelsea.
Ratcliffe held talks with Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck on Thursday and submitted the offer for the Stamford Bridge club on Friday.
The 69-year-old explored in detail a possible bid for the Blues back in 2019, only to buy French club Nice instead.
But a spokesperson for Ratcliffe confirmed the British business magnate's offer to buy Chelsea, with the bid understood now to represent the highest for the club.
"We put an offer in this morning," Ratcliffe told The Times.
We are the only British bid. Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London. We have no profit motive because we make our money in other ways."
Chelsea have told the consortium led by Stephen Pagliuca, part-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics and Serie A's Atalanta, it is not the preferred bidder - leaving Ratcliffe to battle it out with the two other remaining offers.