Abramovich bids for new club

Business experts now believe he is now conducting a firesale of his Russian assets as a precursor to him making Britain - where he already owns several properties - his permanent home.

They also suggest he could be moving his money because of fears of a government-led clampdown on the oligarchs who profited hugely in the privatisation deals of the 1990s. "He is a boy who wants to enjoy himself. He's got all his money, and now he has decided to buy a lot of toys," said Sergei Markov, a Moscow-based political analyst.

But not everyone is impressed by the Abramovich phenomenon. UEFA chief excutive Gerhard Aigner has attacked the way he has stifled the growth of homegrown players by spending millions on a "world select team" at Chelsea.

Aigner said: "Somebody can buy a team and suddenly they can be a candidate to win the Champions League. I don't think that football should be about that. We now have a world select team and nobody can do anything.

"We must have a rule where the clubs have to field players they have educated themselves. At the moment potentially successful youngsters are bought to sit on the bench or not play at all.

" Remember the teams of Moenchengladbach, Malmo, Ipswich and others who emerged because they had a good school and others loved to play for them?

"That has been lost and it is severely damaging for football in the long run."