After Chelsea spent over £300million in the January transfer window, there's significant pressure on Graham Potter to secure qualification to the Champions League next season. The Blues are ten points adrift of fourth-place in the Premier League and UEFA's elite club competition is still all to play for.
But, the deadline day arrival of Enzo Fernandez saw the west London side's total spending for season exceed nearly half-a-billion pounds just a few months after being placed on 'watchlist' by UEFA's Club Financial Control Body. In September, the financial watchdog declared that Chelsea were among 19 clubs who only evaded action due to Covid-related exceptions.
And, as a result, said clubs' spending would be 'closely monitored'. Despite this, Todd Boehly has proceed to spend at large but now the Blues are under pressure to make ends meet.
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According to finance experts, the west Londoners have two objectives to complete in order to significantly reduce the risk of breaching FFP rules. One of which is to qualify for the Champions League; Chelsea would miss out on TV money which could be worth at least £90million.
The other is to cash in on home-grown talent, who would be presented as a profit without loss on the books. Speaking to The Times, Kieran Maguire, a finance analyst, said: "Chelsea’s wage bill in 2021 was £333 million and that was before the club had made an investment in a myriad of players on long-term contracts who are also presumably very well remunerated.
"I think failure to qualify for the Champions League this season will mean that they will be very much on Uefa’s watchlist. The thing that is most likely to be able to dig Chelsea out is that they do have players who have come through the academy who count as a zero cost in FFP calculations who could be sold for significant sums.
"Selling the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek could generate close to £100million between them. That would be pure profit under the new version of Uefa’s financial sustainability rules and this more than anything else could prove to be the saviour of Chelsea in the future."
While Chelsea are being 'monitored', The Times report that UEFA have recently introduced 'squad cost control'. The report reads: "Clubs will be limited to spending initially 90 per cent of their revenue in a calendar year on player wages, transfers and agents fees — Separately, clubs’ losses will be limited to €60 million over the previous three seasons."
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