Chelsea’s players are facing significant wage reductions after the club’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League were dealt a major blow.
Monday’s 3-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest made it six successive Premier League losses for Chelsea and ended their chances of qualifying for the Champions League by finishing in the top five.
There remains a chance that sixth place could earn Champions League qualification if Aston Villa win the Europa League, but Chelsea are now four points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth with three Premier League games left to play.
Failure to qualify for the Champions League will not only cost Chelsea lost revenue, it will also significantly hit large numbers of the club’s players in terms of their earnings.
Chelsea heavily incentivise their player contracts and it is understood that qualification to the Champions League earns the squad pay rises of approximately 20 per cent.
That was secured on the final day of last season, but missing out this term means players will lose their bonuses. That means a player on around £200,000-a-week, including bonuses, this season will earn around £2m less next term. A player currently on £100,000-a-week would miss out on about £1m.
A source told Telegraph Sport: “It’s mad if any of the players have downed tools, because they’re hurting themselves. Chelsea players don’t have the guarantee of big basic wages like some of the other top clubs and they get big bonuses for the Champions League. So to chuck that away is literally throwing money away.”