Todd Boehly 'has cut Chelsea's average wage to under £75k per week'

Todd Boehly and Clearlake ‘have cut Chelsea’s average wage to under £75k per week’, with contract negotiations ‘fraught’ as they face losing Mason Mount over failure to agree a new deal

• Chelsea have endured a tumultuous first campaign under Todd Boehly and Co.
• The Blues have signed 18 players for a spend of more than £600m this season
• But, the squad’s average wage has been reduced to under £75,000 per week 

Chelsea’s average salary has been dramatically reduced under the Todd Boehly-led ownership group, according to reports.

The American businessman, who is a co-owner of the Blues with Behdad Eghbali, joined forces with Clearlake Capital to purchase the club a year ago in the aftermath of Roman Abramovich being sanctioned by the UK government.

However, it has been a dismal and chaotic first season of ownership, with Boehly becoming a figure of fun in many quarters after several decisions have backfired.

Chelsea are languishing in 12th place and are on course for their first bottom-half finish since the 1995-96 campaign despite spending more than £600m on 18 players across the summer and winter transfer windows, as their strategy has often looked haphazard and flawed.

This has culminated in the Blues using a whopping 32 players in total this season – the second most in the top flight behind Nottingham Forest’s 33 – while they have also had four caretaker or permanent managers in the dugout. 

Chelsea’s average salary has been dramatically reduced under the Todd Boehly-led ownership 

It has been a tumultuous first season under Boehly, with the Blues set to finish in the bottom half for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, while they have signed 18 players

Under the regime of previous owner Roman Abramovich, sky-high wages were handed out

And, according to The Times, one of the key legacies from their first year at the helm – which will soon see a third permanent manager of their tenure arrive when Mauricio Pochettino is announced – has been the reduction of the Blues’ wage bill.

Upon arrival, Boehly and Clearlake were shocked at the sky-high salaries that were handed out under the previous regime, with Chelsea often gazumping several other clubs to signings by virtue of offering larger wages. 

This was no more evident than with the signing of Romelu Lukaku for £97.5m in the summer of 2021, with the Belgian striker becoming the highest-paid player in the club’s history on £315,000-a-week.

However, Lukaku’s return to the club where he was previously at between 2011 to 2014 was a disaster and he has spent this season out on loan with Inter Milan – but the 30-year-old still has three years to run on his mega-money contract.

The report goes onto state Boehly and Co. wanted to change this and lower the risk of signings potentially going wrong. 

As a result, several of this season’s additions such as Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Muidryk and Noni Madueke have all penned much longer contracts on significantly lower wages. 

Those three new signings – who arrived for more than a £200m outlay – all signed Chelsea deals until at least 2030.

Romelu Lukaku became the club’s highest-ever paid player on £315,000 a week when signing for £97.5m in 2021 and this was something the new ownership wanted to alter

Mykhailo Mudryk (left), Enzo Fernandez (right) and Noni Madueke all signed deals until at least 2030, with the club’s average salary reducing to under £75,000 per week

But the lower value deals has put them at significant risk of losing Mason Mount this summer 

As a result of these lower value deals, the report states the Blues’ average wage bill has been reduced to between £70,000 and £75,000 a week.

However, this has led to fraught negotiations and knock on results elsewhere, particularly with academy graduate and fans favourite Mason Mount. 

Mount – who has been with the Blues since the age of six – is yet to agree a new deal with the club ahead of his contract expiring next summer.

Mail Sport previously reported how there is a contract stand-off between Mount and Chelsea as a significant gap exists between the parties in negotiations.

The England international – who has been the club’s Player of the Year during the last two campaigns – is believed to want to treble his £80,000-a-week wages, which would put him in line with the other senior players and new signings. 

However, the club aren’t willing to meet this and official talks between Chelsea and Mount over a new deal have now been delayed until the summer, when the Blues plan to either extend his deal or sell the midfielder – with a £55m price tag touted. 

Mail Sport reported on Wednesday how Manchester United have joined the race for Mount, with Arsenal and Liverpool also keen on the 24-year-old as it reaches a crunch time over his future.

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