Chelsea’s near-£600million splurge on players since last summer could see them fall foul of UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules as soon as next season.
And the likelihood of them getting themselves into regulatory strife will increase even more if they miss out of qualification for next season’s Champions League, as they are currently on course to do.
If that happens, it is almost impossible to see them not falling foul of the rules unless they offload this summer to shrink the spiralling wage bill and raise £150m to £200m in transfer income.