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."