Chelsea Stars Not Expected to Take Pay Cuts If Blues Fail to Qualify for Champions League

Chelsea's stars will not be forced to take a cut in their wages if they fail to overhaul Tottenham to qualify for next season's Champions League.

The reigning Premier League champions currently sit eight points behind their London rivals in the hunt for the final qualification spot following last weekend's 2-1 defeat on home soil, and have just six matches left to perform an unlikely miracle.

In the event that they don't, however, the Daily Mail has reported that Chelsea's first-team squad will not see their salary packets take a hit due to no existing clause in any of their deals requiring them to take a pay cut.

Catherine Ivill/GettyImages

Football clubs up and down the country add compulsory clauses in their players' contracts that ensure they must accept a lower wage in the event that their club gets relegated or misses out on an expected target for the season.

Doing so provides clubs with the financial security from missing out on the massive payments from TV rights deals or from qualifying for bigger tournaments.

However, Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich has seen no reason to believe that such a structure needs to be implemented in west London, and Chelsea's stars won't take a hit as a result.

(You may also be interested in Chelsea Reportedly Interested in Hiring Monaco Coach Leonardo Jardim to Replace Antonio Conte)

In fact, the likes of Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois are expected to see their wages increased at the end of the season if the Belgian duo accept new lucrative offers to remain with the Blues past this term.

The goalkeeper and forward - both reported transfer targets for Real Madrid - are in talks over news £300,000-a-week deals to remain on Chelsea's books.

It remains to be seen if the club's failure to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three seasons will impact their desire to stay, but the promise of a handsome salary package could tempt them into staying put.

Real have been tracking the pair's availability for some time now and could yet move for either or both, when the summer window opens, as replacements for Keylor Navas and Gareth Bale.