Chelsea's sale price is expected to break the £3bn barrier - so making the club the richest sale in sporting history.

The Athletic reports the club's sale has been overseen by the Raine Group, and 20 offers have now been received after interested parties were given until last Friday to submit their bids.

Initially there were fears Chelsea would only collect around £2bn after Roman Abramovich's assets were frozen by the UK government, combined with uncertainty over the club's future, but given the overwhelming interest in buying Chelsea, it is thought bidders will have to lodge an offer of more than £3bn, the report adds.

Should that final offer stick, it would mean Chelsea will collect the highest ever sum for a club in sports history - eclipsing the £2.5 billion that was spent on basketball team Brooklyn Nets by Joseph Tsai.

Chelsea still had bids arriving over the weekend, the report goes on, but none of those will be considered after missing Friday's deadline due to the size of the transaction - and a winner will be picked in the second week of April.

Raine hope to whittle down the final candidates to just four by that time, with the firm needing to request a second licence from the Government to seal the deal.