Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's plan to step down and hand control of the club to charity is being questioned. The Charity Commission has issued a new statement
Roman Abramovich may have to change his plans to hand over control of Chelsea to the club's charitable foundation.
Trustees are expected to hold further talks within the next 48 hours. Some of them are concerned about what is expected of them and whether they will be compromised.
The talks took place on Sunday and no agreements were reached or signed as they are being used as a "front" for Abramovich.
Chelsea insists they are willing to go through the process. They do not expect a quick agreement and do not want to rush this important decision for the future of the club.
Chelsea owner Abramovich is said to be in Belarus to broker peace after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it is not known whether he has the backing of Vladimir Putin.
But there are fears among trustees that Abramovich could face sanctions, making it increasingly difficult for the Russian billionaire to operate in English football.
That has made it difficult for Chelsea to move forward and Abramovich wanted to create a "distance" between him and the club so manager Thomas Tuchel could continue working with players as usual.
Abramovich said he wanted to hand over the "management" of the club to the trustees and also put technical adviser Petr Cech and director Marina Granovskaia in charge of the day-to-day running of the club.
Tuchel stressed after the Carabao Cup final that the change would not affect him, but Chelsea obviously want the trustees to take over to ensure a smooth transition.
They held talks on Sunday and will not hold further talks in the coming days in the hope that Chelsea can stay on track.
The trustees are led by chairman Bruce Buck and also include lawyer John Devine, club director Paul Ramos, head women's coach Emma Hayes, chief executive of anti-discrimination group Fare, Piara Powar, and British Olympic Association chairman Sir Hugh Robertson.
Commenting on the matter, a spokesperson for the Charity Commission said, "We have contacted the charity for information and, in line with our policy, the charity has also sent a report to the Commission. We are unable to comment further at this time.