Chelsea have successfully navigated the Premier League’s financial hurdle, but the smoke and mirrors of their latest compliance may have only set the stage for a far more painful reckoning with UEFA.
The Premier League’s PSR findings for the 2024-2025 season have been released, and it’s good news for Chelsea and the 19 other teams in the Premier League who all passed.
In fact, the Blues owners actually set a precedent for clubs like Aston Villa and Everton to follow by selling their women’s team, as they both took advantage of the loophole.
However, the good news may be short-lived, as Chelsea still faces some potential issues with UEFA.
Finance expert Adam Williams has been on the case and explains everything that Chelsea supporters need to be aware of moving forward.
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Speaking exclusively to The Chelsea Chronicle, finance expert Adam Williams has given an insight into Chelsea’s standings with UEFA, despite positive PSR news.
“The real problem is UEFA’s rules, which don’t recognise the artificial profit from the women’s team sale. Chelsea have already breached those rules and are under the terms of settlement, which, broadly speaking, means they have to break even financially over the next three years.
“Given that they have posted annual operating losses – that’s the loss before profit on player sales – of £200m since the takeover, that’s going to require a major recalibration to their strategy.
“If they breach the terms of that settlement, they can get hit with a further cash fine and be kicked out of the Champions League.
“*The solution is players’ sales – we’re going to see a lot more sales. And I’d predict that it’s not just going to be peripheral squad players; there will be some superstars leaving too.*“
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Chelsea’s compliance with PSR explained
Adam Williams continued, sharing how Chelsea successfully navigated the Profit and Sustainability Rules for the 2024-25 Premier League season.
“PSR works in a rolling three-year cycle, over which you’re allowed to lose up to £105m, with allowances for spending on the academy, community, infrastructure and so on.
“Chelsea sold their women’s team to themselves in 2023-24, so it was slap bang in the middle of the PSR assessment window that the Premier League has now confirmed that they have complied with. They generated an artificial profit of £198m, leading to an overall profit for the business of £138m, so we always knew that there was zero chance of them failing here. Effectively, they broke PSR with that deal.
Without that accounting trick, they’d have posted a loss of £60m in 2023-24, added on to their £79m loss in 2022-23. They’d have been at negative £139m for the three-year period going into 2024-25.
“*We don’t have the figures for 2024-25 yet, but they’ll have made a loss there too. So the women’s team sale has saved them from not one but two PSR breaches. In my view, that’s against the spirit of the rules, but you can’t blame Chelsea for taking advantage of the Premier League’s naivety when they were writing them.*“
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