Chelsea forced to sell 'superstars' amid financial woes

Cameron Smith

26 Feb 2026 13:49 GMT
4 min read

Chelsea will likely be forced to sell “superstars” this summer after booking the highest pre-tax loss in English football history last season.

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The Blues have spent over €1.7 billion on player signings since the arrival of Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly as their new owners in 2022, and their financial troubles could lead to several major departures this year.

Current ETV

Cole Palmer

M (C)

Chelsea

Cole Palmer

M (C)

Chelsea

ETV Range

€89.7M - €109.6M

As per data released by UEFA, Chelsea booked a pre-tax loss of €407 million during the 2024-25 season - a new record for an English club and behind only Barcelona’s 2020-21 campaign (€555m) in history.

Liam Rosenior’s side recently agreed a deal for Artificial Intelligence firm IFS to be their front-of-shirt sponsor for the remainder of the season, but they have been without a long-term agreement since their deal with mobile phone company Three ended in 2023.

This has impacted their financial position and, combined with their excessive transfer spending, could lead to notable departures in 2026.

UEFA have stricter financial rules than the Premier League and this means Chelsea have been unable to include the sale of their women’s team or two hotels in their results for 2024-25. The deal that involved Ian Maatsen and Omari Kellyman moving clubs has also been excluded, and Chelsea could therefore be forced into serious action this summer.

Chelsea could be forced to sell superstars this summer

Multiple reports have stated that Chelsea will not be forced to sell their star players this summer, amid rumoured interest in Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez, but football finance expert Adam Williams disagrees.

He told The Chelsea Chronicle: “The real problem is UEFA’s rules, which don’t recognise the artificial profit from the women’s team sale. Chelsea have already breached those rules and are under the terms of settlement, which, broadly speaking, means they have to break even financially over the next three years.

© IMAGO - Cole Palmer has been linked with a move to Man Utd

“Given that they have posted annual operating losses - that’s the loss before profit on player sales - of £200m since the takeover, that’s going to require a major recalibration to their strategy.

“If they breach the terms of that settlement, they can get hit with a further cash fine and be kicked out of the Champions League.

“The solution is players’ sales - we’re going to see a lot more sales. And I’d predict that it’s not just going to be peripheral squad players; there will be some superstars leaving too.”

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