Chelsea sell a hotel to stay within PL spending rules after highest loss EVER

Chelsea's owners sold a hotel on the Stamford Bridge site to another company they own to avoid breaching Premier League spending rules, sparking outrage online.

The consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, which bought the club in May 2022, offloaded two hotels near the ground and generated £75.6million income.

The bombshell disclosure was made in the club's accounts, released today, which revealed that they lost £248.5m over the financial year ending June of last year.

These staggering losses were reduced to £90.1m after taxation when the hotel sales and other adjustments were taken into consideration, the club stated.

According to The Telegraph, the income from the lucrative sale of the two properties would crucially be compliant with Profit and Sustainability Rules.

However, social media users have reacted furiously to the drastic measure, believing that the club should not be able to dodge any repercussions.

'If Chelsea avoid any kind of punishment then I give up on this sport,' an X user said.

A second added: 'Sorry, but if Newcastle had done this there would have been uproar, and the PL would have amended the rules to stop it happening again.'

A third took aim at Chelsea's woes on the pitch despite their transfer business, saying: 'All that money spent and they're even worse than last season.'

The hotels were built as part of the Chelsea Village development completed in 2001.

Both were scheduled to be demolished as part of a stadium redevelopment planned by Roman Abramovich, however, before these proposals were abandoned.

Damningly, Chelsea also revealed that they have spent £747.8m on transfer fees since Boehly and Behdad Eghbali's consortium took control of the club.

Next season, PSR rules state that clubs' permitted losses must not exceed £105m.

Then, from the 2025-26 campaign, clubs must spend no more than 85 per cent of their turnover on transfer fees and wages for players and agents.

Chelsea also hold the second-highest wage bill in the Premier League on £404m.