Chelsea face financial crunch as credit cards frozen after Roman Abramovich sanctions
Tuchel admits players are scared as Klopp says government right to apply sanctions
Chelsea’s bank accounts have been frozen after the UK government sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich, it has been confirmed.
The club have been given a special licence to continue with football related activities but the sale effectively bars the sale of the club following Abramovich’s sanctioning.
Chelsea’s special license takes effect from March 10 2022 and expires on May 31 2022. HM Treasury may vary, revoke or suspend this license at any time and the details have been revealed.
As per the Times, Chelsea’s bank accounts have now been frozen. leaving the club facing ‘financial paralysis’.
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The report states that sources have warned that, despite the license allowing Chelsea’s day-to-day activities to continues, several of the club’s corporate accounts, including credit cards’ have been frozen.
This is due to banks being ‘risk-averse’ as a source told the Times: “The licence allows the club to continue with day-to-day activities but the banks don’t have the risk appetite for it. They’ve frozen some of the corporate credit cards. It’s put a lot more pressure on the club.”
A senior source at the club continued to confirm that the Club are concerned about the situation as they said: “It’s making it even more difficult to run our day-to-day operations.”
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It remains to be seen as to the implications of the bank accounts being frozen as the Times continues to state that the ‘immediate concern’ for Chelsea is that the crisis can trigger administration and a nine point deduction.
Sky Kaveh continued to report that Barclay’s, one of the banks used by Chelsea, need time to review the license. Chelsea are hopefuly that the temporary suspension will be lifted shortly.
Whilst initial reports revealed that the Abramovich could no longer sell the Club due to the sanctions, it has since been revealed that Chelsea can still be sold if the Russian is willing to allow the government to take over the sale process.
This could be the next step as Chelsea are seeking advice from the UK officials regarding a potential sale, with Nick Candy and the Hansorj Wyss-Todd Boehy consortium just two interested parties.
