Former Chelsea player and manager Gianluca Vialli has confirmed he is working with Nick Candy in his bid to buy the club.
The British property developer has hired Vialli's investment company, Tifosy Capital & Advisory, to prepare a formal bid of around £2.5billion for Chelsea ahead of Friday's deadline for offers.
Candy is assembling a consortium of global investors, with Vialli's involvement likely to be well received by Chelsea fans.
Tifosy - whose name is a play on the Italian word for fans - have worked on a number of of prominent bids for European football clubs in recent years including takeovers at Juventus, AS Roma and Inter Milan.