Todd Boehly has just made call that will shape Chelsea’s FFP fate as £60m at stake

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Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital may be about to take one last throw of the dice to solve a PSR problem that they themselves have created.

Since buying the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022, the new regime have spent billions on largely unproven talent.

To avoid breaching Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which limit clubs to financial losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period, they have resorted to creative tactics.

At first, Chelsea amortised player transfer fees over ultra-long contracts.

After that, Chelsea have turned to intra-group sales, trading two on-site hotels effectively to themselves for £76m, as well as the potential sale of the women’s team in a similar move.

But without huge success on the pitch this season as well as considerable churn in the playing squad, even these resorts will not be able to prevent them from breaching PSR soon.

They need to raise revenue and reduce costs. And fast.

The fact that one of the club’s valuable sponsorship assets is currently vacant therefore is therefore surprising.

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Boehly to dismiss two more behind-the-scenes figures?

For the second season in succession, Chelsea have begun the campaign without a front-of-shirt sponsor.

Last term, the sports tech group Infinite Athlete eventually stepped in and paid £40m for three-quarters of a campaign, but they took a hit because of their failure to act faster.

Ahead of 2024-25, it was reported that Chelsea had been in talks with Riyadh Air among other parties and were demanding £60m for their sponsorship rights.

For context, that is more than Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool earn from their respective front-of-shirt deals.

In what may represent a recognition that their commercial fortunes need to improve in order to meet the PSR threshold, The Telegraph has reported that two more behind-the-scenes changes are imminent.

Apparently, head of global merchandise Richard Millan and head of matchday commercial business Simon Hunter are expected to both be ousted from their posts.

Compared to the turbulence in the playing squad at the moment, that might not sound very dramatic. But commercial income is worth more than £210m every season to Chelsea.

That is money the club needs to raise if it is to stand any chance of complying with PSR.

Have Chelsea been charged over PSR?

In a word, no.

The Premier League are investigating alleged historic breaches, as the league’s CEO Richard Masters has admitted.

But those alleged offences pre-date the Todd Boehly era at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s lack of frantic activity before the 30th June meanwhile, as well as the noises coming from the club itself, indicate that they are confident of avoiding a breach.