‘Chelsea are under investigation after unbelievably serious situation’
Chelsea are currently under investigation following an “unbelievably serious” situation at Stamford Bridge.
The London giants revealed during BlueCo’s takeover from Roman Abramovich they discovered “incomplete financial information” had been submitted to the football authorities between 2012 and 2019.
The west London club then reported themselves to the Premier League, Uefa and the FA, leading to an investigation into the matter taking place.
Chelsea reached an £8.7million settlement with Uefa in July 2023 due to the governing body having a statute of limitations that meant it was able to look back only as far as the 2018-19 season – something the Premier League has no such restriction on.
It was revealed earlier this year the club were in talks with the Premier League over agreeing a financial settlement for the payments.
Chelsea are also facing questions over co-owner Todd Boehly’s connection with Vivid Seats after the Mail reported on 22 June the Premier League has written to the club to seek clarification on their position with ticket resellers.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider it would be “ironic” if that was the first issue the Premier League managed to charge Chelsea over.
Boehly is a director of Vivid Seats, which facilitates the resale of Premier League match tickets at up to £20,000.
Chelsea’s latest accounts revealed Vivid Seats made a £93,000 payment to the club that was listed under “transactions with related parties”.
The American platform is listed as an “unauthorised ticket seller” by the Premier League.
Chelsea to be cleared after Todd Boehly issue
Borson insisted it will be “very hard” to challenge the relationship with Vivid Seats after it has been disclosed in Chelsea’s accounts.
He told Football Insider: “It would be ironic if this was the first thing that the Premier League was able to process in terms of Chelsea given the history of the last few years and given the fact that they have an unbelievably serious situation that’s been under investigation and is admitted by the club in respect of the Abramovich era.
“I mean, that would be quite remarkable if the only thing that they could process by way of charging would be something like that.
“But if you go to the back of the Chelsea accounts, it’s there in black and white in the transactions with related parties, an income of £93,000 with Vivid Seats.
“I think when something’s flagged up like that, it’s very hard for anybody to say too much about it.
“It is also a de minimis amount. It’s £93,000. It’s really not that important.
“There have been a lot of newspaper columns discussing this, but I just don’t see that it’s very important.”
Christopher Nkunu closes on Chelsea exit
In terms of outgoings at Stamford Bridge, Football Insider revealed on 1 July Christopher Nkunku is expected to be among the first Chelsea exits this summer.
Chelsea have agree deals to sign Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens for a combined fee of more than £100million, as Enzo Maresca continues to add attacking talent to his side.
Nkunku is pushing to leave Stamford Bridge as a result, and the France international won’t be the only player to depart this summer.
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