Clubs like Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have relegation clauses in players’ contracts, but Chelsea do not. If the club was relegated, the club would be committed to a wage bill of around £200m.
Their bill for the 2013-4 season was £190.5m and that is likely to show an increase for 2014-15. Eden Hazard has been given a new £200,000 a week contract and the salaries of Cesc Fábregas and Diego Costa have been added.
Clubs like Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have relegation clauses in players’ contracts, but Chelsea do not. If the club was relegated, the club would be committed to a wage bill of around £200m.
Their bill for the 2013-4 season was £190.5m and that is likely to show an increase for 2014-15. Eden Hazard has been given a new £200,000 a week contract and the salaries of Cesc Fábregas and Diego Costa have been added.
With the new television deal kicking in next season, it has been estimated that relegation would cost smaller clubs £80m. However, Chelsea would lose more because of their greater revenue from TV appearances, sponsorship and prize money.
QPR were the last team to be relegated from the Premier League without relegation clauses in 2013 and they were left with a wage bill of £75.3m in the Championship, double their turnover.
Arsenal are another club that do not have relegation clauses in their contracts. Some might see this as a sign of arrogance on the part of Arsenal and Chelsea, but neither of them is likely to be relegated. However, including relegation clauses in player contracts might be prudent.