According to UK newspaper The Guardian, secret talks have intensified as this might be the club’s last opportunity to pursue the site just half a mile from their current Stamford Bridge ground.
Plans to build a 8,000-home development once the exhibition centre is demolished after the London 2012 Olympics have now entered the last phase of public consultation.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said it was “very difficult for us to make the philosophical decision that we are going to move on”.
“Certainly we wouldn’t leave West London or thereabouts and there are very few sites available,” he added. “We have to do things with our other commercial activities to make up the deficit that is created by the fact we don’t have a 60,000-seat stadium. We can’t say that we will never move or have a new stadium but at the moment, it’s not at the front of our agenda.”
Chelsea considered buying the same site four years ago, but discussions came to nothing.
