Chelsea DEFEND selling two hotels for £76million to another company run by their owners… as club insiders insist they ran the deal past the Premier League to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules

Chelsea’s financial challenges have been laid bare, with the release of their accounts including the revelation that their owners generated more than £76million after selling both hotels on the Stamford Bridge site to another company they own.

Insiders at the London club insist that deal was done within the Premier League’s rules and ran by the competition beforehand, adding that they used two independent valuers to ensure a fair price was agreed. 

That has not stopped rival supporters from showing their surprise that their losses were allowed to be reduced by the sale of buildings to Blueco 22 Properties Limited, a subsidiary of Blueco 22 Limited.

The overall numbers disclosed did little to show that Chelsea will not face a battle to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules this summer, with rival clubs believing that they have to sell this summer in order to avoid a breach. 

June 30 is the deadline by which clubs needing to generate cash will have to beat. 

Insiders have defended the legitimacy of the move and said two independent valuers agreed a fair price 

Chelsea had the highest operating loss in the Premier League last season, it has been revealed

Chelsea maintain they are confident they will be complaint, though the club’s accounts, published on Companies House for the year ending June 30 2023, showed a pre-tax loss of £90.1m.

They spent £747m on transfers while their wage bill also soared to £404m – a sum believed to be second only to Manchester City among England’s elite clubs, though their salary outlay involved bonuses paid for winning the treble of the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

High salaries could pose a problem if Chelsea do look to sell their stars as it will limit the number of clubs who could take their handsomely-paid players off their hands.

Chelsea are likely to have to prove to the Premier League that they are PSR compliant, but at least one expert yesterday said their accounts were worse than they expected.

These accounts followed the news that Chelsea spent more than £75m on agents’ fees over the last season – the most of any Premier League side and more than all of the clubs in the Championship, League One, League Two and National League added together.