Sport nationFormer Everton chief executive Keith Wyness has warned that Chelsea are staring down the barrel of a “big points deduction” from the Premier League unless they can successfully offload several high-profile players in the upcoming summer transfer window.
if this becomes tried, this means that it will be difficult for Everton to overtrun their pint deduction even with an appeal
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness, who served as CEO at Goodison Park from 2004 to 2009 and now runs a consultancy advising elite clubs, said the West London club’s precarious financial situation means a breach of the league’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR) “looks clear” based on their current squad composition and outrageous spending under the new ownership.
“If they don’t get this done, then it’s looking clear that a points deduction will be put in place – and it could be a big one,” Wyness stated bluntly. “It’s a major breach, as it stands.”
Chelsea have been on an unprecedented spending spree since Todd Boehly’s consortium completed a £4.25 billion takeover of the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022. According to data from Transfermarkt, the Blues have splashed out over £920 million on new players across the last two transfer windows, smashing the previous record for most spent by a Premier League club in a single campaign.
The lavish investment was seen as a necessary reset for Chelsea after years of underinvestment and asset-stripping towards the end of Abramovich’s tenure as the Russian oligarch looked to cut costs amid sanctions from the UK government. However, Boehly and his deep-pocketed ownership group have taken their rebuild to another level entirely, bringing in a raft of elite talents like Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Wesley Fofana and Raheem Sterling.
But that unprecedented spending has come at a cost, leaving Chelsea facing a potential reckoning with the Premier League’s financial fair play regulations. The PSR rules, a more tailored version of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play system, limit clubs to maximum losses of £105 million over a rolling three-year period, with only £15 million of that permitted to be actual cash losses. The remaining £90 million must be covered by a club’s owners through equity investment rather than loans.
For clubs like Chelsea who are already operating at a significant loss, that £105 million allowance can be burned through quickly with a few marquee signings and long-term contracts. And with the Blues facing a second consecutive season of missing out on the riches of Champions League qualification, their revenue streams are being severely constrained compared to their domestic rivals.
According to respected football finance expert Kieran Maguire of the University of Liverpool, Chelsea are already “very close to the limit” of the Premier League’s financial regulations based on their 2022-23 accounts, even before their record-shattering £600+ million outlay in the summer and January windows.
“Chelsea will be very close to the limit of financial regulations in their 2023-24 accounts,” Maguire told Football Insider earlier this month. “They have spent over £600m on transfers in the last two windows and have committed to huge wages for these players.”
Maguire’s assessment aligns with Wyness’ grim prediction that unless Chelsea can successfully trim their bloated squad and get several high-earners off the books, they are on a collision course with the Premier League’s disciplinary commission and a potentially severe points deduction.
The challenge for Boehly and the Chelsea hierarchy is that offloading those unwanted players will be easier said than done. Many of the club’s underperforming or out-of-favor stars are on lucrative, long-term contracts that will make them extremely difficult to move on without Chelsea having to pay out significant settlement fees.
As Wyness notes, it sets up a scenario where Chelsea could face “very tricky negotiations” with players who hold most of the leverage due to the security of their existing deals.
“It’s fascinating because they’ve got all these players on long contracts,” Wyness said. “We’re talking about them being forced into a fire sale, but these players have got bargaining power and leverage due to their contracts. It’s going to be a very tricky negotiation to handle.”
“There’s going to be a lot of money being paid out to settle these contracts before the players even think about moving on. It’s a bit of a mess, to be honest.”
The former Everton chief’s assessment paints a picture of a club facing a perfect storm of financial pressures and constraints. On one side, Chelsea are being squeezed by the Premier League’s spending regulations and the threat of severe sanctions if they cannot bring their losses back into line.
But on the other, they are hamstrung by the very contracts they handed out so freely in an attempt to quickly rebuild their squad under the new ownership. Many of those big-money deals now look like millstones around the club’s neck, with underperforming players having little incentive to take pay cuts or negotiate exits.
It’s a situation that has left Chelsea facing some agonizing decisions in the months ahead. Do they bite the bullet and pay out tens of millions to get rid of the deadwood and bring their wage bill back under control? Or do they try to ride out the storm, keep their squad intact, and risk the wrath of the Premier League in the form of a potentially devastating points deduction?
Neither option is particularly palatable for a club that has grown accustomed to operating at the highest levels of the game, both on and off the pitch. But the reality is that Chelsea’s new American owners may have to swallow a bitter pill of their own making after going overboard in their efforts to revamp the playing squad.
The Blues’ summer transfer plans will likely be shaped by the need to raise funds through player sales, with a host of big names reportedly on the chopping block. According to reports, Chelsea could look to cash in on the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Conor Gallagher and even Mason Mount as they scramble to trim their losses.
But as Wyness points out, even if they are successful in offloading those players, Chelsea may still face a hefty financial penalty from the Premier League for their previous transgressions. And any points deduction, no matter how big or small, could have severe consequences for the club’s on-field ambitions next season and beyond.
A 10-point deduction, for example, would likely be enough to derail any hopes of a Premier League title challenge, while also putting Chelsea’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League in jeopardy. And if the penalty is even more severe, as Wyness suggests is a possibility, it could leave the Blues facing an uphill battle just to secure a Europa League spot.
Such a scenario would not only be a massive blow to Chelsea’s prestige and ambitions, but could also have serious financial ramifications. Missing out on the riches of Champions League football for a third consecutive season would only exacerbate the club’s already precarious financial situation, potentially setting off a vicious cycle of cost-cutting, player sales, and declining competitiveness.
It’s a doomsday scenario that no Chelsea fan wants to contemplate, but one that seems increasingly plausible the deeper the club digs itself into a financial hole. And while Boehly and his fellow owners have the resources to continue propping up the club through their personal wealth, there is a limit to how much they can subsidize before running afoul of the Premier League’s regulations.
The situation is a stark reminder of the perils of unchecked spending and the importance of operating within one’s means, even for a club as wealthy and prestigious as Chelsea. The Blues’ new American owners came in with grand ambitions of restoring the club to the upper echelons of European football, but their zeal for quick fixes and marquee signings may have set the club back even further.
Of course, it’s still early days in the Boehly era, and there is time for the new regime to course-correct and get Chelsea’s financial house in order. But the prospect of a looming points deduction, and the potential consequences that could have for the club’s on-field performance and long-term competitiveness, is a sobering reality check.
For Wyness and other observers of the game, Chelsea’s predicament is a cautionary tale about the dangers of financial mismanagement and the importance of adhering to the Premier League’s regulations, no matter how wealthy or ambitious a club’s owners may be.
“It’s a mess, to be honest,” Wyness said, summing up the situation at Stamford Bridge. “And it’s a mess of their own making.”
Only time will tell if Chelsea can navigate their way out of this self-inflicted crisis, or if they will be forced to pay a heavy price for their profligacy in the form of a points deduction and a further setback in their quest to return to the upper echelons of English and European football.
But one thing is clear: the Blues’ new owners have learned a harsh lesson about the importance of financial sustainability and the perils of ignoring the Premier League’s rules and regulations. Whether they can apply that lesson and chart a more responsible course for the club remains to be seen.
For now, though, the threat of a “big points deduction” looms large over Stamford Bridge, a stark reminder that even the wealthiest and most ambitious clubs are not immune to the consequences of financial mismanagement. It’s a reality that Chelsea and their fans may soon have to confront head-on, as the fallout from their spending spree threatens to derail their on-field ambitions for years to come.
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Amina Umar
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