Despite the staggering numbers, Chelsea insist they continue to comply with Financial Fair Play
Chelsea have become the first Premier League club to suffer a loss of more than £1 billion.
Their latest accounts show Chelsea recorded a Premier League record operating loss of £235 million for the financial year ending May 2022.
Chelsea spent £368.7m in the transfer market last summer after taking over Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. The January signature was not included in their accounts for the 2021-22 period, announced at Companies House on Saturday.
Football financier Kieran Maguire said:
"Chelsea have become the first club to suffer a loss of more than £1 billion."
Despite the staggering numbers, Chelsea insist they continue to comply with Premier League and UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations. Chelsea become first club to suffer losses in excess of £1 billion pic.twitter.com/MXxCOJPJ8t
– Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire) April 9, 2023
New accounts also show Chelsea paid £49.75m to former directors, including Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia, for helping to sell the club after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned.
Last month, Chelsea said "extraordinary expenses and loss of income" due to the UK government's sanctions on Abramovich contributed to their losses last season.
In a statement in the accounts, Chelsea co-owner Boehly said:
"The main strategy of the club is success on the pitch."
Financial expert Maguire said:
“Under Roman Abramovich Chelsea lost £900,000 a week for 19 years.
“These accounts for 2021-22 are skewed by a number of unusual features, such as high payouts to former directors and substantial player deductions of £77m. I suspect a significant factor in this has to do with Romelu Lukaku. "If you get rid of those two, then Chelsea will break even, mainly thanks to the sale of the player who has bailed for the club.
"These types of losses are not sustainable unless you have an owner willing to continue contributing loans and stocks."
Chelsea plan to weed out players to help fund another big round of spending this summer, with a new goalkeeper and striker at the top of the list.
They could also target a midfielder and another centre-back.
Chelsea have agreed a deal worth around £50m to sign RB Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku, but are weighing whether to target another frontman.
They risk missing out on the Champions League, which will cost them more than £90m in TV money and will need to sell players to boost their income.
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