Chelsea and Todd Boehly will receive around €81m ahead of the January transfer window following their progress to the Champions League knockout stages. The Blues topped their group with four wins and will learn their last-16 opponents on Monday morning.
The west Londoners won four straight games following Graham Potter's appointment in September to finish above AC Milan, Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb. However, they have struggled to replicate their European form in the Premier League with them currently sat sixth following last week's shock 4-1 defeat to Brighton.
With the World Cup approaching at pace, work has already begun behind-the-scenes over the potential of delving into the transfer market in January to improve Potter's squad. Frenkie de Jong, Cristiano Ronaldo and Christopher Nkunku have been three wholesale names linked with a move to Chelsea and Boehly could be tempted to secure a big signing with the lump sum the club are set to receive from UEFA.
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Following the conclusion of their group on Wednesday night, Chelsea will receive €81m in total for their success in the tournament so far. The sum is split four ways through participation (€16m), prize money (€23m), UEFA Coefficient (€32m) and TV Pool (€14m).
Overall, Chelsea should have received €83.9m in total but had €2.9m deducted as part of the COVID rebate. The Blues received the seventh-highest prize money in the competition behind PSG, Manchester City, Benfica, Napoli and Bayern Munich and the third-highest out of the four English clubs.
There remains plenty for Chelsea to play for on the financial front as the prize money from each knockout round advances as the competition goes on. €9.6m will be won if they were knocked out in the next round, €10.6m as quarter-finalists, €12.5m as semi-finalists, €15.5 as runners-up and €20m should they win the competition for a third time.
Last month, Potter discussed the upcoming transfer window and relayed his trust in the recruitment team to do the best business. He said: "You have always got to look at January as a complicated window and then as we get closer to January we sit down and discuss strategy and options.
"My job as head coach is to focus on the matches — we’ve had nine, ten matches in October, six away ones, so the focus is on preparing the team and the players that are here. Thankfully we’ve got a good recruitment department emerging, so they can focus on that and my job can be to help the team but also support that area as well."
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