Chelsea's wage bill passes Manchester clubs as Premier League's largest

Chelsea have returned to the top of at least one
Premier League table after annual figures
revealed they have overtaken both Manchester
clubs in terms of salaries paid to players.

The 2014-15 figures, which have been made
available on Companies House, show that Chelsea
are the biggest payers in the top flight once more
after losing that position to Manchester City in the
2011-12 season.
The club, owned by Russian billionaire Roman
Abramovich, reported a total wage bill for last
season rose to £215.6 million, up £25m.

The salary bill for their leading rivals last season
saw Manchester United's at £203m, City's at
£193.5m and Arsenal paying out £192.2m on
wages. Both Manchester clubs reported a drop in
overall wages last season.

Chelsea announced in November the club had
made a net loss of £23.1m on a turnover of
£314.3m -- down £5.1m -- but said they were
well within the boundaries for complying with
UEFA's financial fair play regulations.
The full annual figures reveal however that the
club made a £42m profit on players trading,
through selling Romelu Lukaku, Andre Schurrle
and Ryan Bertrand -- and despite bringing in Cesc
Fabregas and Diego Costa. In the 2013-14 season
Chelsea made a £65m profit in player trading.

The accounts also show that Abramovich injected
funding to Chelsea via the club's parent company
to the tune of £46.7m last season, and £57.1m
the previous year. The accounts state:

"However..
part of the debt has been converted into equity
during the year via the allotment of ordinary
shares."