Chelsea at risk of losing £70m from summer transfer budget as Enzo Maresca fights to save Blues' season and future

After losing out on four points in their last two Premier League matches, Chelsea have fallen to the sixth position on the league table and are now at the risk of losing out on a top-five finish and missing out on a Champions League slot. While failing to qualify for the Champions League might not affect manager Maresca's position at the club, the Italian coach could see his transfer budget slashed to £70 million ($90m).

The Blues cannot afford to miss out on Champions League football for three seasons in a row due to their declining financial health. While a top-five finish this year and subsequent progress to the knockout stage of the Champions League in the 2025-26 campaign will see the club pocket £90m, a stint in the Europa League will see them earn just £20m.

The West London club's latest financial report claims that they have made a profit of £129.6m, but Professor Rob Wilson, an academic lead at University Campus of Football Business, expressed his concern while speaking to SunSport.

Professor Wilson said: "Their reported profits are suggesting financial health, but the underlying losses basically indicate a reliance on accounting strategies. You can't trade on accounting strategies forever. What you're doing is essentially just putting off the inevitable, which is at some point you're going to post a pretty significant loss or you're going to have to have a big asset sale.

"They are kind of protecting that with the longevity of the player contracts that they've been including. They are properly on a knife edge in my view. They are backing themselves or have already backed themselves into a pretty unmanageable corner."

Maresca's men will be back in action on Thursday as they host Legia Warsaw in the second leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final fixture.