Chelsea's annual wage bill has soared to £172.5 million - almost £40 million more than the next highest payers Manchester City.
The figure for the year ending June 2010 is revealed in Chelsea's full annual accounts lodged with Companies House on Friday and shows a significant increase on the previous year.
The reason why Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, etc was offloaded was to bring down the wage bill.
They might as well have kept 'em...