Chelsea reportedly face a battle to overcome any breaches of financial regulations set by the Premier League.
Since a consortium led by Todd Boehly completed a takeover at the end of May, the Blues have gone on a relentless spending spree in the transfer market.
While some fees have remained officially undisclosed, it has been widely claimed that the West Londoners have spent over £600m across two transfer windows, while not recouping much in return.
As a result, the powers-that-be at Chelsea are already aware that significant cutbacks must be made ahead of 2023-24, and an array of players sales are expected to occur.
The severity of the situation has been highlighted to some extent this week, Chelsea announcing losses of £121m for the 2021-22 season with the club putting that down to 'extraordinary expenses and a loss of revenue'.
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Between March and May of 2022, Chelsea were unable to generate any income, a consequence of government-imposed sanctions on then-owner Roman Abramovich on the back of Russia instigating a military invasion of Ukraine.
However, according to the Daily Mail, those restrictions only contributed to a small fraction of their financial losses for that season.
Furthermore, the report claims that Antonio Rudiger had already decided to leave Chelsea on a free transfer before the club were informed that they could not negotiate any new contracts.
Being prevented from agreeing new commercial deals and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic could also be used as a defence, but nonetheless, Chelsea will likely have to put forward a case to explain their position.
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Premier League regulations state that a maximum of a £105m loss can be made over a three-year period, and their recent negative return follows a £153.4m loss for 2020-21.
With Chelsea struggling for Champions League qualification for 2023-24, they face the realistic prospect of further expected revenue disappearing, and would need to react accordingly.
Progress in this year's competition is also deemed valuable, with Chelsea in line to collect in the region of £8m if they can get past Real Madrid to reach the semi-finals.
Earlier this week, it was suggested that as many as eight players would need to be sold to help fulfil the necessary criteria, Chelsea currently having in excess of 30 players in their senior group.
Darren Plant
