Chelsea turned down a lucrative front-of-shirt sponsorship offer from a gambling company in August, sources have told Football Insider.
The London giants have started the new season without a primary shirt sponsor for the second consecutive campaign after their deal with Infinite Athlete expired.
Chelsea struck a £40million-a-year deal with the US-based sports data company in September last year, but the agreement has not continued into this campaign.
The west London club were looking to agree a £50million deal for this season, but Football Insider revealed on 26 September they have now been forced to lower their asking price to £40million and that fee could continue to decrease the longer they go without a deal in place.
Sources have told Football Insider Chelsea are not looking to agree terms with any companies from the gambling industry despite being offered a sizeable shirt sponsor deal over the summer.
Stamford Bridge chiefs pulled out of talks with online betting company Stake in July 2023 following a fan backlash before later going on to sign the deal with Infinite Athlete.
Premier League clubs will no longer be able to agree front-of-shirt sponsorships with gambling firms from the 2026-27 season after they collectively agreed to withdraw from such deals last year.
Chelsea have work to do on landing new shirt sponsor deal
Chelsea’s ability to land a lucrative shirt deal with a blue-chip company has been hampered by the fact they are not playing Champions League football again this season.
Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol reported on 24 September Chelsea are in talks with Qatar Airways and two other airlines about becoming their new front-of-shirt sponsor.
But finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively revealed to Football Insider the West Londoners are not currently close to agreeing a deal with any of the interested parties.
Landing a new front-of-shirt sponsor could be crucial to Chelsea’s profit and sustainability (PSR) calculations for this season as it makes up almost 10 per cent of their revenue across a campaign.
The Premier League side reported a club-record revenue of £512.5million in their latest accounts for 2022-23, but that could have decreased last season due to their lack of European football.
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