A British-led consortium has been formed in a bid to buy Chelsea, the group claiming to oversee as much as £40bn in assets.

After the deadline for offers passed on Friday, each proposal is now being assessed ahead of a shortlist being reduced to a handful of candidates.

Centricus co-founder Nizar Al-Bassam, Cheyne Capital's Jonathan Lourie, Talis Capital's Bob Finch and Centricus CEO Garth Ritchie have come together, the quartet all being Chelsea's season-ticket holders.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Al-Bassam feels that it is imperative to get new owners in as soon as possible due to Chelsea "bleeding money" on the back of sanctions which have recently been imposed by the government.

Al-Bassam said: "We oversee £40bn assets. We've been focused on content for a number of years, the FIFA work, the UEFA work, is all built around our view that content is a very, very dominant aspect of technology going forward and sports is a very core, key aspect of content.

"There's a clock ticking because the club is bleeding money at a faster rate than it should be while there's uncertainty there.

"I've had the same seats in the Tambling suite and the same seats in the West Stand for 10 years. I'm worried for the staff there when I see this turmoil."

Further developments regarding a sale and current sanctions are expected before Chelsea are back in action against Brentford on April 2.