Chelsea 'ready to cut wage bill by £80m' (1 Viewer)

"Jose Feliciano, co-founder of Clearlake Capital, has hinted at ongoing plans for Chelsea to continue their significant wage bill reduction efforts. Since Clearlake Capital, in collaboration with Todd Boehly, completed their takeover of Chelsea in May 2022, the club has engaged in an unprecedented spending spree spanning three transfer windows.

This extravagant spending has amounted to approximately £1 billion on new players, despite Chelsea's decline in the Premier League standings and their failure to qualify for European competitions. Chelsea's financial situation, particularly in relation to Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, has raised eyebrows externally, as they appear to be overspending relative to their annual revenue.

Nonetheless, Boehly and Clearlake Capital have chosen to offer long-term contracts to younger players, which aids in spreading the amortization of transfer fees. Furthermore, reports have indicated a shift away from the high-end weekly wages of the past, with outgoing payments being lower and distributed over extended contract durations.

In their pursuit of compliance with financial regulations, Chelsea has also seized the opportunity to offload numerous players acquired during the previous ownership, especially those whose contracts were approaching expiration.

However, speaking at the IPEM private equity conference in Paris, Jose Feliciano has suggested that Chelsea, the English giants, will continue their efforts to reduce the wage bill, at least through 2024.

Feliciano stated, as reported by the Daily Mail:

"We have bought an asset that is very coveted by many other potential buyers. Ultimately, we are extremely aligned with that supporter and fan base because the best way to make our club more valuable is to win.
"The team had a tough first season, our first season. We have a tremendous amount of talent."

Later at the event, he added: 'I think what we are trying to do is reduce the salary and essentially the opex [operating expenses] of the business by over $100m (£80.6m) per year."