Chelsea cannot be allowed to go bust and must be permitted to sell the club, according to Gary Neville.
The Blues are currently under a huge cloud of uncertainty following the sanctions imposed on owner Roman Abramovich by the UK Government.
Chelsea are not allowed to sell match tickets and will play the home leg of their Champions League quarter-final behind closed doors. There are a long list of parties interested in buying the west London club.
Friday is said to be the deadline for them to signal their interest. Neville says the Government must ease the restrictions they have placed on Chelsea in order for a sale to go through.
He claims there is no one who would want to see Chelsea go bust following the recent punishments imposed on them. Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, he said: “Chelsea have to be allowed to be sold.
“The Government has to ease their restrictions to allow the club to be sold and they have to ease their restrictions to allow the club to be operated so that they don’t go bust. I’m absolutely fixed on that.
“We can’t lose Chelsea Football Club over this. I’m absolutely convinced that that’s a given for everybody.
“I don’t think anybody wants to see Chelsea go to the wall, we don’t want that. So they have to somehow work out a way, bids by Friday is sort of the word on the street.
“If we believe that to be true then there will have to be a period of time to allow that sale to go through. Legals on a deal of £2million, let alone £2billion, are going to take more than what we believe is the 10 days that Chelsea have got left to operate and to pay the players and other such things.”
Neville believes the Government will allow Chelsea to be sold and that they will survive as a top Premier League team. He added: “So I suspect there’s going to be almost a heads of terms agreed, a sale accepted, and then maybe they’ll have four weeks to complete and the Government will allow that sale to move through, and they’ll probably monitor it and watch it.
“I think we’re in a situation now where the Government will allow the sale to go through, Chelsea will have a new multi-billionaire owner. Chelsea will survive and they’ll have a football team in the Premier League and they’ll have large investment.
“I’m convinced these things will happen. And they should be allowed to happen.
“Chelsea cannot go bust off the back of these sanctions, that is an absolute no no for me. I’m adamant and I’m sure everyone is adamant on it.”