Chelsea's debt to Roman passes £1.5BILLION with wage bill higher than Man Utd

Chelsea's debt to owner Roman Abramovich has passed the £1.5 billion mark afrer the Russian injected further cash into the club last season.

As reported by The Times, annual accounts for Fordstam Ltd, Chelsea's parent company, showed that the 55-year-old loaned the club £19.9 million last season - taking the total debt to £1.514 billion.

The latest cash injection has helped the club overtake Premier League rivals Manchester United and Liverpool in terms of their wage bills - despite recording a £155.9m loss last season.

Chelsea's wage bill rose by 17.5 per cent to £333m, with their Champions League triumph playing a part due to bonus payments issued out to players.

The Blues also spent big at the start of the last season, forking out £222m on the likes of Kai Havertz (£71m), Timo Werner (£48m), Ben Chilwell (£45m), Hakim Ziyech (£36m) and Edouard Mendy (£22m).

In comparison, Manchester United's wages rose to £322.6m last season, while Liverpool's salaries totalled £326m in 2019-20.

Only Manchester City, who had a wage bill of £351m in the 2019-20 season, have had to pay higher wage bills.

Fordstam's accounts state: 'Funding is provided by the ultimate controlling party, Mr R Abramovich . . . The balance outstanding on all related-party loans at 30 June 2021 was £1,514.4 million.'

The loans are said to be expected to be repaid to Camberley International Investments Ltd, which is believed to be controlled by Abramovich.

However, as the loans are from the owner himself, Chelsea are effectively debt free as Abramovich would have to repay himself from the proceeds if he were to sell the club.

The Blues should make a healthy profit on player sales for this season with the Fordstam accounts revealing that three players were signed in the summer for an initial outlay of £109.7 million and 13 players were sold for £103.7 million.

The likes of Tammy Abraham (£34m), Kurt Zouma (£29.8m) and Fikayo Tomori (£25m) all left the club in the summer.

However the spending figure will be spread over several years by a process known as amortisation to show a player trading profit in the accounts.