Clearlake Capital co-founder Jose Feliciano has suggested that there are plans in place for Chelsea to continue to heavily reduce their wage bill.
Since Clearlake Capital - alongside Todd Boehly - completed a takeover of Chelsea in May 2022, they have embarked on an unprecedented spending spree across three transfer windows.
In total, around £1bn has been shelled out on new players at a time when the Blues have dropped down the Premier League standings and missed out on qualification for Europe.
The position of the West Londoners with FFP has been a natural talking point, Chelsea - to the outside - seemingly spending beyond their means when a portion of their annual revenue is missing from the books.
Nevertheless, Boehly and Clearlake Capital have taken the approach of handing out long contracts to younger players, helping with amortisation regarding transfer fees.
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Furthermore, reports have previously indicated that gone are the days of high-end wages being handed out per week, such outgoings instead being lower and spread over extended deals.
To aid their efforts to comply with regulations, Chelsea welcomed the opportunity to sell a wide array of players signed by the former owners during the summer, some of which tied in with their contracts nearing their expiration dates.
However, speaking at the IPEM private equity conference in Paris, Feliciano has indicated that the English giants will be taking further measures to reduce their wage bill, in 2024 at the very least.
Feliciano said, as quoted by the Daily Mail: "We have bought an asset that is very coveted by many other potential buyers. Ultimately, we are extremely aligned with that supporter and fan base because the best way to make our club more valuable is to win.
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"The team had a tough first season, our first season. We have a tremendous amount of talent."
Later at the event, he added: 'I think what we are trying to do is reduce the salary and essentially the opex [operating expenses] of the business by over $100m (£80.6m) per year."
Feliciano's comments hint that further players who have not been signed over the last three transfer windows are the most likely to leave in 2024 and beyond.
When business opens in January, the likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher may attract bids, the former having dropped down the pecking order and the latter having less than two years remaining on his contract.
