Chelsea announce that they will not cut player wages amidst COVID-19 pandemic

The La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 sides have all managed to come to an agreement over wage cuts thanks to various laws and other factors involved. However, the Premier League has struggled to do the same with the PFA and it has seen clubs take action instead. Arsenal, West Ham, Watford, and a few others have already implemented their version of pay cuts or wage deferrals but it has not been a league-wide option.

But despite rumours that they were set to do the same, Chelsea have released a statement where they’ve revealed that there will be no first-team wage cuts ‘at this time’. The statement from the Blues also saw the club admitted that this comes after an extensive meeting with the first team and also that they will not be furloughing any non-playing members.

"Representatives of the Chelsea board have recently held extensive talks with the men's first team to discuss how they can contribute financially to the club during the coronavirus crisis. At this time, the men's first team will not be contributing towards the club financially and instead the board have directed the team to focus their efforts on further supporting other charitable causes," a statement on the Chelsea website read.

“As this crisis develops the club will continue to have conversations with the men's first team regarding financial contributions to the club's activities. The club can confirm we will not be taking advantage of the government's current Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which runs to June 30. We are not planning any general redundancies or furloughs for our full-time staff who are continuing to be paid 100 per cent of their current wages."