Roman Abramovich was reeling after taking a big financial hit last night at a time when cash investment is sorely needed at Chelsea.
The Russian billionaire, who took control of the Blues in 2003 and turned the club into Premier League champions, saw shares in his steel company Evraz take a nosedive.
Evraz’s profits dropped by a staggering 60 per cent to £36.5million in the first half of 2016 after revenues had fallen by 28 per cent to £2.7billion.
This news saw the firm’s share-price fall by 11.2 per cent to 153.5p and sees the value of Evraz decrease by a massive £307million.
Abramovich , 49, owns 31 per cent of the business and will dent his personal fortune by an estimated £48million.
It is a tiny chunk of the Russian’s £6billion wealth but would represents the bulk of a transfer fee for one of manager Antonio Conte’s summer targets at Stamford Bridge.
Evraz have attributed their poor performance to the fall in demand for steel caused by China’s economic slowdown.
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The company’s chief executive, Alexander Frolov, was remaining positive and says Evraz is already starting to see improvement.
He said: “The first half of 2016 can be divided into two distinct parts for Evraz and the sector
“In the first quarter conditions were largely unchanged from the end of 2015.
“But in the second quarter, steel market conditions improved, and the group demonstrated a stronger performance, largely due to a supportive pricing environment in its main markets.”
This financial hit for Abramovich comes at a time when he is set to pump more cash into the west London club in the final two weeks of the summer transfer window.
Reports suggest that as much as £140million could be handed to Conte to spend on the likes of Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly and Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.
