Roman Abramovich also had Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool on his shortlist before buying Chelsea in 2003. The Russian took charge at Stamford Bridge and has seen the club win 16 major trophies during his time, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League. Abramovich has regularly splashed out and saw the club spend £200m in the recent summer following a season without success. Though it could have all been so different, with Jon Smith's book ‘The Deal’ explaining that Abramovich had other potential targets. It’s explained that Abramovich’s advisers initially drew up a list of clubs across five European countries before it was whittled down to...
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