Chelsea to hold ‘dramatic’ fire sale to avoid points deduction – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has insisted Chelsea will have to hold a “dramatic” fire sale in the upcoming summer window.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – claimed young stars will be sold to extract maximum value in the Blues’ perilous situation.
Chelsea posted a loss of £90million in their 2022-23 financial year alone, with current Premier League rules stating top-flight clubs can lose a maximum of £105million over a rolling three-year period.
Breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) carries the risk of potential points deduction – with Everton and Nottingham Forest punished during the 2023-24 campaign.
The London club’s situation has been worsened by their poor on-pitch performance, with Mauricio Pochettino’s side unable to qualify for the Champions League this season and reap the financial benefits of doing so.
Chelsea set to sell multiple young stars to avoid points deduction
Wyness suggested Chelsea cannot avoid “big sales” – unless there is a big change to Premier League financial rules.
He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “I think we have to expect big sales at Chelsea.
“From what I can see, they’ve run out of hotels to sell – although that deal has yet to be approved by the Premier League.
“So at some stage, they’ll have to sell.
“They have to look for value in players, and that will have to be with the younger ones – not necessarily the big players.
“Thiago Silva has already left, he’ll have been on a substantial wage.
“They’ll have to do some pruning around the player budget.
“I expect the sales at Chelsea to be pretty dramatic because I can’t see how they can go on as it is – unless we see a pretty big re-jig of the rules.
“There are so many open questions. This is football, the great soap opera we love, so it’ll be interesting to see how they dig themselves out of getting a points deduction.”
In other news, Chelsea set sights on signing England star in three-player raid.
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