Chelsea’s wage bill rose to more than £400 million last season – the second highest in the Premier League, according to accounts published by Companies House.
The Blues finished 12th in the Premier League last term, but their salary costs have risen by 18 per cent to £404 million (€471 million), with only treble-winning Manchester City paying out more (£422.9 million).
In the first full season under the new ownership of Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium, Chelsea paid £747 million on transfers up to June 30th, 2023. Since then, they have spent another £454 million on transfers.
Players who had initially cost the club £592 million were sold for £203 million, although accounting regulations allow the West London outfit a profit of around £63 million.
Chelsea announced pre-tax losses of £90.1million in March, an improvement on the previous years’ loss of £121.4 million, but Premier League rules state a club can have made a loss no greater than £105 million over a three-year period.
While certain costs can be deducted, it means there are likely to be further player sales required in the coming months in order to remain within regulations, particularly with qualification for Europe via their league position looking unlikely this campaign.
The sale of Mason Mount to Manchester United in July last year for £55 million, with a possible £5 million in add-ons, will be in the 2023/24 accounts, although so too will the signing of Moises Caicedo from Brighton for a fee that could rise to up to £115 million.
On Friday, it was announced Chelsea spent £75.1 million on agents’ and intermediaries’ fees in the 12 months up to February 1st, having brought in players like Caicedo, Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia, Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer over the period covered – which was almost £32 million more than previously spent.
Despite the outlay, Mauricio Pochettino’s expensively-assembled squad have endured an inconsistent Premier League campaign – and were branded “blue billion-pound bottle jobs” by Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville late on during their 1-0 extra-time defeat against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
A £76.5 million property deal with BlueCo, a subsidiary of the club’s holding company, helped to reduce Chelsea’s losses, while their turnover increased to £512 million, up from £481 million over the previous year.
