A LUXURY yacht worth £75million has been causing a stir after being spotted moored off Leigh.

Le Grand Bleu was formerly owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who owns Chelsea Football Club, but gave it to old friend and business colleague Eugene Shvidler in 2006.

Previously moored off the Isle of Wight on the south coast over the weekend, the 355ft-long craft arrived at its mooring at around 10.10pm on Monday complete with its own on-board helicopter.

Phil Worman, 31, of the Broadway, Leigh, was amazed to the see the boat yesterday morning.

He said: “I got a phone call from a friend at 8.30am to say go down and have a look.

“I saw it moored out in the estuary. It’s unbelievable. It had a helicopter on the back, which took off at about noon.

“It’s not the kind of thing you see every day. You certainly don’t get many of those out there.”

Le Grand Bleu, which means the Big Blue, is one of the largest private yachts in the world and boasts a diving centre, helipad and aquarium.

It has both a 74-foot sailboat and a 67-foot speedboat on the rear deck. The enormous yacht requires a crew of more than 50 people.

Electrical contractor Steve Roberts, 41, was working on a house in Cliff Parade, Leigh, when he spotted the craft.

He said: “We had been wondering whose boat it was. You don’t often see them anchored there, and we saw a small boat pull alongside this morning.

“We suspect it was dropping a pilot on board who would have been forced to wait in all that luxury until it finally gets to move upstream.

“What we wouldn’t give to spend a morning on that yacht. It beats rewiring a house, well for a morning, anyway.”

It is thought Le Grand Bleu is headed for a mooring in London, and could end up longside HMS Belfast at Southwark, or the prestigious East India Docks.

Martin Garside, from the Port of London Authority, said yesterday: “This vessel arrived at 6pm on Monday at the Leigh small ships anchorage. She is a privately-owned yacht registered in Bermuda.

“The Port of London Authority monitors all vessels in the estuary from its port control centre at Gravesend.

“A vessel of this size requires a PLA pilot to assist the captain to bring her safely into the estuary and to an anchorage.

“In this case, a PLA pilot boarded the vessel at North East Spit near Margate.”