Chelsea can no longer sign or sell players or hand out new contracts to current players due to club owner Roman Abramovich being sanctioned by the UK government.
The Blues will now surely lose Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen, who are all out of contract this summer, with this news ending all hope of the club being able to tie them down to new deals while Abramovich is still in charge.
The Russian oligarch is one of several big names to be hit with sanctions by the government due to Vladimir Putin’s recent invasion of Ukraine.
See below as Martyn Ziegler reports on the news, stating that this means Chelsea are no longer able to make transfers or hand out new contracts to players…
Also: no merchandise sales allowed; no player transfers or new contracts; catering services will be permitted.
— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) March 10, 2022
This also means Abramovich can no longer profit from CFC in any way, with only season ticket holders able to still attend matches.
There will also no longer be any club merchandise being sold, while Abramovich himself also cannot sell the club under these conditions.
Chelsea play Norwich City in their Premier League clash this evening.