Chelsea will reportedly argue that they missed out on funds after Antonio Rudiger’s departure in a dramatic war with the Premier League over their losses. The Blues are set to be asked to justify a loss of £121million in 2021-22, and will apparently point to the departure of Rudiger as one reason why.
Chelsea’s spending has been heavily scrutinised since the consortium fronted by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali bought the West Londoners. A near-£600m spend in this season’s transfer market has led to questions over their outlay.
The Premier League club reported losses of £121m in the 2021-22 season. They are reportedly set to be asked to justify why they lost an eye-watering amount of money.
But Chelsea will apparently point to the loss of defender Rudiger last summer. The Germany international was unable to sign a new contract with the Blues due to sanctions imposed on the then-owner Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea operated on a special licence allowing them to participate in matches. However, they were barred from receiving vital revenue for two months before the Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium bought the club.
According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea will use the examples of Rudiger and their inability to trade as justifications for their losses. They will apparently argue that they could have received money for the 30-year-old further down the line had he been able to sign a new deal.
Rudiger ultimately joined Real Madrid on a free transfer. The report claims that sources close to the player insist he had decided to run down his contract long and depart long before Chelsea were sanctioned by the government 12 months ago.
The former Roma centre-back would have been worth tens of millions had he been under contract. The Premier League will reportedly ask for proof that Chelsea harboured confidence over tying down Rudiger to fresh terms had they been able to do so.
Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso also left Chelsea on free transfers last summer. Like Rudiger, both players would have been worth considerable sums of money had they been under contract.
Commercial deals with Three and Hyundai were also suspended for three months following Abramovich’s sanctioning. The Premier League has previously shown some leeway, with Everton able to argue that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to lost revenue in 2021.
A failure to qualify for the Champions League could see Chelsea miss out on £80m of revenue from the competition. Graham Potter’s side are 10th in the Premier League and 11 points off fourth place with 11 matches to play.
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