Chelsea files: Mystery over training ground car crash, Josh Acheampong update and why Blues are Big Six’s poor relative

CHELSEA are officially the poor relations of the Premier League Big Six.

Winning the Club World Cup and returning to the Champions League will boost their income when the Deloitte Football Money League comes out again next year.

But if the Blues’ owners really want to close the gap and put themselves in a position to sell the club at a profit, they need to make progress on a new stadium and boosting commercial revenue.

Yet despite claiming weeks ago they were close to announcing a front-of-shirt sponsor AND a long-term sleeve deal, nothing has happened.

And more than three and a half years into the current regime, Chelsea seem no closer to building the 60,000-seater home they need.

Club suits can hold the sporting directors and head coach responsible for performances on the pitch.

But off the pitch is supposed to be their area of expertise and it is on them to deliver.

First, the good news – the football department is generating more cash. 

Chelsea have already earned about £60m from the CL this season, with the prospect of over £10m more if they qualify for the last 16 by finishing in the top eight of the Swiss league.

Winning the Conference League last season was worth only about £15m to them.

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Add the one-off £85m or so the Blues banked from the CWC and they could even top the PL table for TV revenue this season, depending on how they and their domestic rivals perform in the rest of the CL.

But as well as staying in Europe’s premier competition, Chelsea face bigger long-term challenges to boost their commercial and matchday revenue.

Under the Clearlake Capital-led ownership, the Blues have started the last three seasons without a front-of-shirt sponsor. 

They apparently want at least £60m per season and will not settle for less.

But every week and every year without one of the biggest sources of commercial revenue for a club costs them.

Even if Chelsea announced a deal next week, they would still have gone more than half a season – again – without that money.

And they need Liam Rosenior and his successors to keep things on track on the field if they are going to persuade sponsors to pay top dollar.

As far as matchday revenue goes, only Manchester City among the Big Six earn less per season than Chelsea.

Manchester United’s 2024/25 income from Old Trafford was the best part of double what the Blues got from Stamford Bridge.

Yet United seem to be further on with plans for their new stadium.

Blues supremo Behdad Eghbali may recall being warned by former Chelsea chief executive Christian Purslow how difficult, perhaps impossible, it would be either to redevelop the Bridge or find an alternative site. 

United are an important benchmark for Chelsea and their owners. 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS’ partial buyout in February 2024 valued the club at about £5billion, despite its struggles on and off the field.

When Chelsea’s current owners bought the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022, they spent £2.34billion on his shares and pledged to invest a further £1.75billion. A proportion of their investment will be funded by debt, which will be accruing interest all the time.

So to make a decent profit down the road, they will need to sell Chelsea for close to £5billion.

They may be relying on TV revenues spiking again in the coming years, perhaps through the PL launching its own global streaming service.

And a London location always inflates value.

But persuading a buyer to pay an eye-watering sum for Chelsea without having sorted out the stadium issue will be a tough sell.

It would be like insisting on the asking price for a house when the kitchen is not fit for purpose.

Rosenior, the Blues’ FIFTH permanent boss under the current regime, has made a good start.

But Chelsea fans are entitled to ask when they will see significant improvement off the pitch.

BEN AND GONE

HOW quickly they forget.

In the programme for Chelsea’s trip to Crystal Palace, the “Both sides of the fence” feature about players who had represented both clubs was dedicated to Ben Chilwell.

Or Ben CHILLWELL, as his name appeared in the title, despite being spelt correctly in the main body of text.

But the former England left back has every reason to be in a good mood about his move to Strasbourg.

Chilwell, 29, is playing regularly and Chelsea’s sister club have barely skipped a beat since losing Rosenior to the Blues.

Strasbourg were on a run of just one points from four Ligue 1 games when Rosenior left.

Under successor Gary O’Neil, they have won both their league matches so far to lie seventh, the position where they finished last season, and right in the hunt to secure another campaign in Europe.

Chilwell’s Instagram account makes it look like he is living his best life off the pitch, too, with photos of his life in the picturesque French city and various commercial/social outings.

AL IN

CHELSEA completed the signing of teenage full-back Yisa Alao from Sheffield Wednesday over the weekend.

The Blues are paying £500,000 up-front to the Championship side, with a number of add-ons included in the deal.

Joe Shields led the negotiations for the club and managed to land the 17-year-old ahead of some serious competition.

SunSport understands both Liverpool and Manchester United were also interested in signing Alao, who made two Championship appearances for Wednesday.

Alao was in London finalising his move over the weekend and had a short meeting with manager Rosenior near Chelsea’s Cobham training base after sealing the deal.

Alao will join the academy initially.

BLUE RULES

SPEAKING of which, some Chelsea fans are expressing concern over coach movements and other issues at Cobham with the youth set-up.

But those in charge can point to some encouraging results so far this season. 

The Under-21 team are second in PL2 and the Under-19 side finished top of the Uefa Youth League with five wins out of six.

Chelsea’are unbeaten and top of the southern section of the Under-18 Premier League, as well as being through to the fifth round of FA Youth Cup.

All that has happened despite some real upheaval behind the scenes.

Calum McFarlane started pre-season as assistant with the under-18s, was promoted to head coach of the 21’s when Filipe Coelho left for Strasbourg, and now finds himself working with new first-team boss Rosenior.

McFarlane’s replacement as U21 boss is Harry Hudson, who was himself promoted from leading the Under-16 team to assistant of the U18’s only in the summer.

Are you following this? There will be a test at the end.

Similarly Dan Hogan led the Under-16’s for only a few months before being appointed boss of the Under-18s earlier in January.

Meanwhile, Hassain Sulaiman, who has been with Chelsea since 2008, has been moved from leading the Under-18s to a role as pathways relationship manager.

The well-respected Sulaiman will be in charge of supporting development from the Academy to the first team.

It does feel like an area where the Blues need to improve, despite a number of young players making their debuts under previous boss Enzo Maresca.

A recent report pointed out Chelsea have produced players worth nearly £1billion who now play for other Premier League clubs.

But the real trick is developing more young talent that is good enough to play for the Blues’ first team.

Teenagers Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Shim Mheuka, Ibrahim Rabbaj and others are all making waves at youth level.

How many will become first-team regulars, though?

BLUE DAWN

AFTER Chelsea Files revealed the latest doubts about Cole Palmer’s future with the Blues, another one to watch is Josh Acheampong.

Chelsea have apparently ruled out any possibility of the 19 year old leaving the club in the current transfer window, either permanently or on loan.

But Acheampong could be forgiven for wondering what is going on with his development.

Chelsea are currently pursuing yet another young defender in Rennes’ Jeremy Jacquet.

And the Blues have annoyed Borussia Dortmund by recalling Aaron Anselmino from loan with only a week of the window to go.

And regardless of whether centre back Anselmino ends up being sent out on another temporary deal, Acheampong’s has had little opportunity this season to show he has what it takes to play in the first team.

Critics will say, when he has been given a chance, Acheampong has sometimes looked better going forward than in defence.

But you can only improve by playing more and there are reasons why clubs like Bayern Munich like him.

Acheampong signed a contract extension in December 2024, committing himself to Chelsea until 2029.

He has started only six Premier League games this season, and just two since late October.

If that pattern continues, Acheampong will surely seek a move and will have plenty of suitors.

ROAD SLIP

MYSTERY surrounds a car accident near the Chelsea training ground on Saturday morning.

A vehicle whose registered keeper is understood to be a footballer left the road, narrowly missing a war memorial.

It left tyre tracks on grass as it ended up 20 metres off the carriageway and halfway into a ditch on Tilt Common, about a mile away from the Blues’ Cobham HQ.

Eyewitnesses reported the driver to be an older man, prompting speculation a family member of a player may have been involved.

Surrey Police do not believe any offence was committed and no injuries were reported, so it is pretty much case closed for them.

And Chelsea have so far not confirmed whether the car belonged to one of their players.