Buy, buy, buy! That was the mantra of the new Chelsea owner when he purchased the club from Russian businessman Roman Abramovich. Since the American took over, the Blues overhauled the sports department with some new blood and spent half a billion pounds on new players, with some new ones already being discussed for June. But it seems that a new mantra in the upcoming months will be justify, justify, justify. The Blues will have a lot of explaining to do, and lot of documents to provide, since they are risking being charged by the Premier League. What’s worse, we are not even talking about this year’s spending, and that will be the topic soon. 🚨 Chelsea are set for a battle with the Premier League over a potential breach of spending rules with the club ready to cite Antonio Rudiger’s departure for Real Madrid on a free transfer last season as one justification for their huge losses. The club are expected to name… pic.twitter.com/xDz6m0MdLl— Football Talk (@FootballTalkHQ) March 29, 2023 When the Blues released their financial figures three days ago, it was revealed that they posted huge loss of 121.3 million pounds for the year ending June 2022, following 153.4 million in the previous 12 months. As Daily Mail writes, the accounts published this week take the club’s losses over the Premier League’s rolling three-year period to 241.9 million – putting them at risk of breaching the limit of 105 million after which they would be charged. Now, just as Everton tried to blame their huge loss to COVID restrictions, Chelsea immediately said that extraordinary expenses and loss of revenue’ due to the sanctions on former owner Roman Abramovich were the key reason for the loss. But just like the Toffies, who were eventually charged with rules breaching, the Blues will have a tough time defending their case. Half a BILLION in the red: Everton is in hot water over FFP regulationsChelsea’s excuse was always gonna be the loss of Antonio Rudiger as a fee agent and loss of revenues due to working under a government licence last year. Chelsea were barred from receiving revenue by the government after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned on 10 March last year until the Todd Boehly takeover was completed on May 28. But, the Daily Mail writes that the vast majority of their income for the season had already been banked by that point. They did lost some revenue, but not as much as they claim. The inability to persuade Rudiger to stay is also tough to defend, as sources with knowledge of the negotiations claim that the German defender had already decided to leave on a free before Abramovich was sanctioned. No wonder they have losses – but it’s not for the reasons you would think ofBut wait, the worse is yet to come. Even if they manage to get out of this mess, the Blues will soon face the financial consequences of Boehly’s spending. The club have spent 553 million pounds on new players since the takeover was completed. They will also account for 80 million losses as they will hardly qualify for the Champions League this season, and every place lower in the Premier League is two million pound less for the club. It sounds silly, but they should hope that they don’t play Europe at all next season, and the reason is simple: They were put on a watchlist of clubs in danger of failing UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations last September.##NAJAVA_MECA_7138717##
