Chelsea is approaching its last few days under Roman Abramovich as the takeover of the club looks set to be completed. In real time, we could see Todd Boehly being officially announced as the new Chelsea owner by the end of the season. However, before that happens, there is yet another cup final for Chelsea to feature in, one that is definitely a must win.
Coming off the back of a recent win over Leeds, the Blues have decided to pay £1 million to the players—in various forms—if they defeat Liverpool and win the FA Cup final on Saturday. Liverpool, on the other hand, is in line for a quadruple and in contention to become the first English side to accomplish such feat. Recent reports claim that Thomas Tuchel’s squad will activate an aggregate bonus of £1 million should it wreck this feat. The Blues will definitely be interested in doing just that to avenge their Carabao Cup final where they lost on penalties to the Reds.
Chelsea players will get £1 million for a win over Liverpool in the FA Cup final
The west Londoners have more often than not stumbled at the last hurdle in each of their previous two attempts in the competition, losing to Arsenal and Leicester City respectively.
This should increase motivation to work harder, but earning an extra buck would also go a long way to drive their spirits too.
Chelsea’s bonus structure is thought to be one of the most lucrative in the league. The money allocated to the players will be on a pro-rata basis, with the amount given to each player depending solely on their appearances and participation in the victory. The money when split between them, may not be as much compared to what some of them make in a week or a month, but it’s still a considerable amount.
Speaking ahead of the tie with Liverpool, the gaffer gave his view on what he expects from his Chelsea side irrespective of Liverpool’s impressive performances this season:
"“I don’t care about their other titles, we lost, of course, the final. We have everything in that final as you know, it was a big match that went until the very last penalty. Of course, we were unlucky and lost it. We want to turn things around. It will not give us the Carabao Cup title back but we are here and were here last season in the FA cup final and that means an unbelievable lot to us. There are not a lot of bigger games to be part of and it’s why we are grateful and we will be well prepared. We play against one of the strongest teams in the world which are in outstanding form given their results. So it will be a tough one and we will try to make life hard for them.”"
There is a price on the line and it is imperative that the Blues don’t end the season relatively empty-handed (they have won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup). This is Chelsea’s last shot at a silverware this season and winning it will definitely be a good reward for all the players’ tough work this season. Meanwhile, it will be a thing of extreme pleasure to see Boehly kick-start his Chelsea tenure with a trophy in his cabinet.
Do you think the Blues will emerge victorious? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!