Chelsea news LIVE: Club withdraw Middlesbrough request after backlash and Roman Abramovich sanctioned by EU

Chelsea insist they are “pressing the government” to allow fans to buy tickets to matches.

Sanctions to Roman Abramovich from the UK government over his links to Vladimir Putin have led to the London club operating under strict conditions on a “Russia Regulations” license.

As well as an inability to sell tickets to fans, there can be no transfers or new contracts.

And Chelsea have now urged the government to ease restrictions and permit supporters to purchase tickets for this weekend’s FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough.

As part of the sanctions against Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich the club is prohibited from selling tickets for its upcoming games under the conditions of the special licence given to them to enable the club to complete the season.

On their website Chelsea say they are still awaiting confirmation from the UK Government on whether they will be allowed sell tickets for games including to this weekend’s FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough.

The club said: “We are pressing the Government to allow our supporters to have access to tickets. Meetings are taking place daily in search of a resolution. In addition, the Premier League and FA are also discussing with the Government the sporting integrity issues raised if they do not permit fans to attend.

“We are aware of the high level of frustration our supporters are facing over this issue, and we are doing everything we can to resolve it as soon as possible.”

Barcelona are considering a surprise move for Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku this summer, according to reports for AS in Spain.

There are doubts over the futures of Ousmane Dembele, Memphis Depay, Martin Braithwaite and Luuk de Jong, with president Joan Laporta aiming to overhaul the squad. The Catalan giants are intent on rebuilding their squad under Xavi and have their sights set on signing a big name forward.

They are interested in signing Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland this summer, with his £63million (€75m) release clause too good an opportunity to ignore but Barca ‘openly admit’ they are behind Manchester City in the race for the 21-year-old goalscorer, so are keeping in mind other options.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is the second choice target and the fact he is out of contract in June 2023, leads Barca to believe they could get him at a price between £50m and £58m (€60m-€70m).

Bayern Munich’s 33-year-old striker Robert Lewandowski is the third option, but would only be given a two-year deal due to his age and is thought to be a ‘very complicated’ deal to pull off.

That leaves Lukaku as fourth choice or the ‘last resort’ option. The 28-year-old only joined Chelsea in a club-record £97.5m deal last summer and is under contract until June 2026 but he has failed to settle back at Stamford Bridge, scoring 11 goals in 31 appearances so far this season, and is thought to be open to moving.

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has admitted the club’s ability to finish the Premier League season in not in their hands amid negotiations with the UK Government over its operating licence.

Chelsea were allowed to continue with “football-related activities” after being handed a special license following the sanctioning of owner Roman Abramovich, leaving the club facing an uncertain future.

Negotiations have been held with the government over amending the licence to allow Chelsea to operate as normally as possible but under the conditions that Abramovich cannot make a profit.

Cech, who is now employed by Chelsea as a technical and performance advisor, admitted that the Premier League side had been left with more questions than answers amid what he described as a “difficult situation”.

Thomas Tuchel questioned the Premier League’s ownership tests following Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Newcastle at Stamford Bridge.

Head coach Tuchel reaffirmed his commitment to the Blues despite the club’s uncertain future due to owner Roman Abramovich’s Government sanctions.

Abramovich has had all his UK assets frozen barring Chelsea in the wake of Downing Street claiming to have proven the Russian-Israeli billionaire’s links to Vladimir Putin.

Chelsea’s Kai Havertz spoke after the Newcastle game about the situation at the London club following owner, Roman Abramovich, getting sanctioned by the UK government and more recently the EU.

“We - the players - are in a good situation, really, we feel bad for everyone else,” said Havertz, “We know this situation is not all about football, there are a lot more important things than us right now but we try to put smiles on faces.

“When you see the emotion that came out after this goal, it is what everyone needed. We are very privileged to do our job, a lot of people in the world are feeling a lot worse than us. We are just trying to do our job, be professional and give them a good feeling.

“It’s tough but for us we play, we are privileged to train, do what we love. It’s hard for everyone, not only for us, but everyone at the club, the fans. Also the workers, the Academy and eveyone at the club. We try to give everything and if we can give them moments like this it’s nice, to give them a good feeling.”

According to sources at the EU, diplomats asked the Commission - which drafted the economic sanctions - for assurances that the new economic measures on Russian oligarchs cannot be successfully challenged in EU courts.

No concerns were raised about the new listings of oligarchs and businessmen - which are in a separate legal document drafted by the EU external action service - and one diplomat was confident that Abramovich’s sanctioning “will go through”.

Further Russian oligarchs will be added to the EU list after dozens have already been sanctioned.

The new sanctions will hit people active in the Russian steel industry and others who provide financial services, military products and technology to the Russian state.

Abramovich holds a Portuguese passport, which means that Portugal could in principle refrain from imposing on him the asset freeze and travel ban decided at EU level which is aleady in place on Chelsea’s owner in Britain.

The European Union has decided to add Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich to the EU list of Russian billionaires sanctioned after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The informal greenlight to Abramovich’s listing came in a meeting on Sunday, according to one source, with EU envoys set to reconvene on Monday to adopt the measure and a further set of economic sanctions against Russia.

Sanctions will be effective only after publication on the EU’s official journal, which usually happens within hours or the day following formal approval.

The West has sanctioned Russian billionaires, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to change course on Ukraine.

Any potential sanctions on Abramovich would come during the fourth set of EU sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on the 24th Feburary.

The EU is ready to ban the export of luxury goods to Russia, including expensive cars.

Saudi Media Group have reportedly made a £2.7bn ($3.5bn) offer to buy Chelsea. Mohamed Alkhereiji who runs Saudi Media and is CEO of it’s parent company Engineer Holding Group is an apparant Chelsea fan and is leading a private consortium with no direct government links.

There is is support in finding funding and partners from Mohammed bin Khalid Al Saud who is also chair of Saudi Telecom Company (STC). STC is State-owned and Newcastle owners PIF still have shares in it despite selling some in December.

More details as Chelsea fans told to stop the “completely inappropriate” chanting of Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s name, the Prime Minister’s spokesman has said.

Blues supporters again expressed their backing for Abramovich during Sunday’s home match against Newcastle, after he was sanctioned by the UK government last week over his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.