Chelsea wage bill nears £150 million mark

Chelsea are bracing themselves for another huge increase in player salaries that could take their annual wage bill close to £150million as the recent round of contract renegotiations is set to continue. John Obi Mikel and Joe Cole are the next in line for new deals and expect to open talks before the start of the season after Wayne Bridge, Petr Cech and Michael Essien signed new contracts in the past week. Discussions are under way with Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack, and Didier Drogba is also demanding a pay rise to keep him at the club.

Chelsea's wage bill for 2006-07 was £133million, £40million higher than the Barclays Premier League's second biggest spenders, Manchester United, but even that sum, which represents 71 per cent of their turnover, is likely to be dwarfed when their latest results are released early next year.

The contracts signed by Bridge, Cech and Essien have added £4million to the club's wage bill, and Lampard is due for a £1.5million-a-year rise if he agrees to Chelsea's £140,000-a-week offer. Mikel can expect his salary to double to £80,000 a week at a cost of an additional £2million a year to the club because the Nigerian is expected to take over Claude Makelele's position as the midfield anchor. Cole is likely to receive an additional £1million to take his wages to a similar level.



Deco's three-year contract is worth almost £5million a year and José Bosingwa's £2.5million, bringing the total cost of new players, new contracts and those in the pipeline to a staggering £16million annually. In contrast, those players who have left the club this summer, such as Steve Sidwell, were relatively modest earners, with the exception of Makelele, whose departure on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain will save Chelsea £80,000 a week.

Chelsea's largesse may be unsustainable in the long run and makes a mockery of their aim of breaking even by 2010, but their determination to keep the squad together at almost any cost is a testament to the success of their player recruitment in recent years.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the manager - who earns £5.5million a year, £500,000 more than José Mourinho was banking from Chelsea this time last year - outlined his faith in his squad after the 4-0 win over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical yesterday, refusing to be drawn into a slanging match with Sir Alex Ferguson over the United manager's claims that his players are too old. Salomon Kalou, Lampard, Franco Di Santo and Shaun Wright-Phillips scored the goals in a straightforward win. “I have the players with experience and I have some young boys in my team,” Scolari said. “But I feel with my team that we have experience for the Premier League. I'm not nervous at all. I have the pressure, but all of the coaches have the same pressure. It's normal.

“Don't forget that I was a coach for club teams for 17 years of my life. I was only working with the national team for seven years. I feel the same as I was coaching the other teams. I need to work morning and afternoon, I need to grow the team and I need to think up new tactics for my training.”

Scolari also expressed confidence that Lampard would stay at the club, even though he has yet to agree to a new contract. The England midfield player wore the captain's armband for the second half after John Terry's substitution last night, although he refrained from kissing the club badge after scoring Chelsea's second goal.

“I said two days ago that Frank is here, he is with us, training, playing very well,” Scolari said. “He is one player from our group and the speculation is part of big speculation in the world for this player or that player. Until August 31 [when the transfer window closes] there'll be more speculation for Chelsea than for any other team. After then the speculation will not finish.”