Chelsea’s activity in the transfer market during recent seasons has led fans of rival clubs to question how the Blues can afford such a volume of high-profile, expensive signings without contravening the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules (PSR).
Under BlueCo ownership, the Blues have been able to sell the Women’s team and hotels on the Stamford Bridge site to sister companies, making sure they, technically, abide by English football’s financial controls.
In Europe, however, such deals would not count towards UEFA’s rules and player trading takes on greater importance.
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Chelsea’s finances under UEFA scrutiny
Enzo Maresca brings out the Conference League and Club World Cup trophies at Stamford Bridge (Image credit: Getty Images)
The ‘football earnings’ rule requires clubs to balance their spending with revenues. Clubs are obligated to limit their losses to €60 million over a three-year period, although this can be higher for clubs in good financial health.
According to Daily Telegraph journalist Matt Law, the Blues will need to be more business-savvy next summer as the club’s financial position comes under greater scrutiny by European football’s governing body.
Chelsea added big-money signing Joao Pedro to their squad this past summer (Image credit: Getty Images)
“Nicolas Jackson isn’t in their Champions League squad. So even if they sell Nicolas Jackson, he will not count [towards complying with UEFA’s rules],” Law said on the ‘London is Blue’ podcast.
“Because it has to be people who you have to balance against people who were in your squad. So, if [Chelsea] sell [Raheem] Sterling, if they sell Jackson, if they sell [Axel] Disasi, they’re not going to count.
“So, if they bring players into a squad next summer, they’re going to have to trade again, and it’s going to result in first-team players having to be sold, basically. That makes life very difficult for next summer.”
Chelsea spent approximately £300m in the summer transfer window, recouping around £290m from player sales. Whether Enzo Maresca’s side are able to repeat their strong player trading performance in 12 months’ time is a different matter altogether, but could prove necessary.
Champions League participation is closely tied to stronger financial performance (Image credit: Getty Images)
Based on Chelsea’s most recently available accounts as at June 30, 2024, the club reported a pre-tax profit of £128.4 million, suggesting the organisation is in good financial health. This reflected a major improvement on the £90.1 million loss posted during the previous year.
Although, without the ‘repositioning’ of their Women’s team, which generated a £198.7m profit, Chelsea’s financial footing would not appear as secure.
Clubs competing in UEFA competitions must also adhere to the ‘squad cost rule’, which limits a club’s spending on wages, transfer fees (amortised over the contract length), and agent fees.
This spending is capped at 70 per cent of the club’s annual revenue, which fell to £468.5m during 2023/24, down from just over half a billion the season prior.
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