How Chelsea helped Brighton to £122.8m premier league profit
Brighton’s Premier League record £122.8million profit has in part been helped by Chelsea.
The Seagulls announced their latest accounts on Tuesday which revealed they had passed the previous record profit of £113m set by Tottenham in 2017/18. Only La Liga giants Barcelona have posted a greater profit of €351 million (about £300 million) for 2022-23 although this involved them selling their “economic levers” being paid upfront for future income.
And the Times have detailed how the sale of players including Marc Cucurella to Stamford Bridge have played a role in Brighton’s latest record financial accounts. The full-back arrived in West London from the Seagulls in August 2022 for a £55m fee with the possibility of another £7m in add-ons.
The income also includes the £22m Todd Boehly and the Blues’ ownership paid Brighton for manager Graham Potter and his coaching staff in compensation when he replaced Thomas Tuchel in September 2022. Potter lasted just seven months at the Blues before being sacked in April 2023.
The profits however do not include the sale of Moises Caicedo and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to Chelsea. Caicedo joined in August 2023 for a fee which could reach £115m whilst Sanchez joined in the same month for £25m.
Their chairman, Tony Bloom, said in the annual report: “The accounts show an exceptional profit for the period, and what is incredible once again is that while we have achieved our best ever season on the field we have also delivered our best ever results off it.”
Brighton’s chief executive and deputy chairman Tony Bloom said: “It’s a challenge to be sustainable and less reliant on your owner, in our case Tony, and at the same time put a competitive squad together and compete on the field.
“Last season showed we are capable of doing that. This season, even having sold Moisés and Alexis, we have still been very competitive. We have stepped up a level, we have had to play in Europe as well, and we have maintained our position in the top ten of the Premier League all season.
“The challenge is to keep repeating the trick, unearthing young talent in different parts of the world and fishing in ponds that other clubs don’t tend to look in, and then using our coaches to develop those players into Premier League quality and beyond.”
