Chelsea, Arsenal at risk of falling into financial crisis

Due to political instability in Crimea, Britain has imposed sanctions on Russia, including freezing the assets of several billionaires.

After 21 people were put on the list of travel bans and asset freezes in the UK, yesterday the EU also announced new sanctions adding 12 names. British press reported that there are many opinions that the two billionaires Usmanov and Abramovich should also be put on the above list.

If this happens, it would be really bad news for the two clubs currently playing in the Premier League, Arsenal and Chelsea. While Abramovich is the owner of Chelsea, Usamanov is the main shareholder of Arsenal.

Chelsea Chairman Abramovich (Photo: AFP).

Billionaire Abramovich bought Chelsea FC in 2003, over the past 11 years, the London team has been built into a real force in England as well as Europe. However, almost all of the team's operating costs come from Abramovich's money.

The Telegraph, on March 22, quoted British Prime Minister David Cameron as saying that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's account could be frozen.

Mr Cameron was quoted as saying: "We cannot rule out the possibility of such measures being applied to anyone. I stress that these sanctions will only apply to those who have a direct link to the events in Ukraine."

In the last fiscal year, Chelsea reported a loss of nearly 50 million pounds and the so-called self-accounting business of the club's senior leaders has almost gone bankrupt.

Without Abramovich's money, Chelsea will not know where to get the money to cover the salary fund that has swelled to 171 million pounds. Not stopping there, without Abramovich's money, Chelsea will not be able to invest in buying players. This is really an alarming situation for The Blues.

As for Arsenal, the risk of crisis for the Emirates Stadium team is not as great as Chelsea because although Usamanov is a major shareholder, if sanctions are imposed, he will likely sell off his shares in the same way billionaire Gennady Timchenko sold 43% of shares in the oil company Gunvor to a business partner on March 19./.

According to VOV