Nick Candy is among the frontrunners to complete a takeover of Chelsea as Roman Abramovich looks to pass the Stamford Bridge-based club into safe hands, according to journalist Pete O'Rourke.

Mega-money groups looking to buy the west Londoners are in a rush against time as the Raine Group, the United States bank tasked with handling the sale, have given potential bidders until tomorrow to lodge their offers.

What's the latest news involving Candy and Chelsea?

Following his homeland's invasion of Ukraine, Russian billionaire Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale earlier this month.

But Abramovich has since been sanctioned by the UK government and, as a result, had his assets frozen.

That development has not deterred Candy in his bid to gain ownership of Chelsea as it was revealed the property tycoon still has the intention of lodging an offer.

It has been revealed that former Blues player and manager Gianluca Vialli is working with Candy as he aims to take the west London club off Abramovich's hands.

Candy has hired Vialli's investment company, Tifosy Capital & Advisory, to prepare a formal bid of close to £2.5billion for Chelsea ahead of tomorrow's deadline.

But Candy is facing stiff competition from a host of consortiums and billionaire businessmen, while it is understood that preferred bidders will have experience of owning major sports teams.

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What has Pete O'Rourke said about Candy?

O'Rourke believes Candy is among the leading contenders to replace Abramovich as the owner of Chelsea.

The journalist feels there is a distinct possibility that the 49-year-old will be chosen as the preferred bidder to guide the Blues into a new era.

O'Rourke told GIVEMESPORT: "I think Candy, who is a Chelsea fan, is by all accounts one of the leading people in this race to takeover Chelsea, along with his consortium.

"There's a few American consortiums in the mix for Chelsea, who are obviously a very attractive club to a number of these big billionaires who see Chelsea as a big player in Europe and a mainstay of the top clubs in the European elite as well."

How have Chelsea been performing on the pitch?

Chelsea booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals after a 2-1 win over French side Lille allowed them to record a 4-1 victory on aggregate.

It means the west Londoners are still in the hunt to clinch the coveted trophy in back-to-back seasons after Thomas Tuchel's side got their hands on the prize last year.

Chelsea are in a rich vein of form, having suffered just two defeats since the turn of the year.

However, one of those setbacks resulted in the Blues missing out on silverware as a nail-biting penalty shoot-out loss to Liverpool saw the Merseysiders clinch the Carabao Cup at their expense.

Chelsea are currently third in the Premier League standings but a late push for the title appears to be beyond them.