Former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich once entertained the possibility of purchasing Ligue 1 side FC Nantes when he was still in charge of the Blues, Christophe Lollichon has revealed in an interview to Ouest-France. Les Canaris, who have fallen to Ligue 2 this year, hosts Dunkerque on Saturday, a club that Lollichon has joined three years ago.

Nantes are in the process of being sold to a consortium of European buyers led by former football agent Paulo Tavares. Last month, an agreement in principle was reached for the sale of the Loire-Atlantique-based club, which would put an end to Waldemar Kita’s rocky 19-year stewardship. But the situation could have been very different, according to Lollichon.

The latter, who served as Chelsea’s goalkeeping coach for 15 years, between 2007 and 2022, said that the West London club could have bought FC Nantes. Lollichon recalls being called by Roman Abramovich to join him in his Cobham office. “He said to me: ‘Tell me about FC Nantes. What’s the club like?'” Lollichon goes on to explain that the Russian businessman was looking to purchase what could have been a feeder club for the Premier League side – a role which is arguably Strasbourg’s following their 2023 BlueCo takeover.

Lollichon adds that Abramovich was specifically looking for a structured club with a playing style, characteristics that reportedly didn’t apply to FC Nantes at the time. However, Abramovich’s interest in Nantes presumably didn’t last long. “I knew all the people who could hold the key to that [playing] style”, Lollichon recalls. “I alerted them. He [Abramovich] told me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll send planes to get them.’ He called me back two months later and said, “I think this club is too big for what we want to do.”