Not to be of 'fair market value' – Chelsea made to sweat still on key financial deal

Chelsea have been made to sweat on one key financial deal they have made in order to try and stay in line with financial regulations.

The club owners looked to have been very clever once again by finding a loophole in order to stay within the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules for this year.

It was widely reported over the weekend that the owners of Chelsea have sold two Hotels between their own companies to get them off Chelsea’s books to now be owned by their newly formed BlueCo company.

The value of the sale came to £76.5 million, which would then go into their profit declaration for Chelsea Football Club this financial year.

However, they might not yet have got away with that, despite saying that they have sold the Hotels at fair market value.

The Times are claiming that The Premier League has yet to approve the value of the £76.5 million sale of Chelsea’s two hotels to a sister company. The deal has not yet been assessed to be of “fair market value” under the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.

This will of course be very frustrating and a bit concerning for anyone involved with Chelsea to read. However, I am sure that the owners know exactly what they are doing here and will be confident that this deal will be accepted as part of their profits for the football club this year and help keep them in line with PSR.

They will also need to sell players before the end of June in order to stick those sales fees into their profits as well, but this was always to be expected, Chelsea were always going to be selling players when the transfer window opens in the summer, that’s nothing new or surprising.

Let’s see how this one unfolds.