Chelsea have released a statement confirming that, as things stand, their players will not be taking pay cuts to help with the running of the club and that no full-time staff will be furloughed.

Football clubs in England – and especially those outside of the Premier League – are experiencing severe financial issues during the coronavirus crisis, with income streams having been decimated.

The severity of the situation has led to some clubs asking their players to sacrafice a portion of their salaries, with Arsenal having recently reached an agreement over a 12.5 per cent reduction.

Criticism has been aimed at Mesut Ozil after he allegedly refused to take a pay cut, although there also those that feel the German, and any other player asked to take a deduction, are well within their rights to decline.

And Chelsea have now made an announcement over their stance regarding player salaries, insisting that they are not currently asking their first-team squad to contribute to assist the club’s financial situation.

The statement read: ‘Representatives of the Chelsea board have recently held extensive talks with the men’s first team to discuss how they can contribute financially to the club during the coronavirus crisis.

‘The objective of these talks has been to find a meaningful partnership around ensuring we preserve jobs for staff, compensate fans and participate in activities for good causes.

‘We are grateful to the team for having played their role in assisting the club with community activities as well as all the charitable causes they have been supporting in their respective home countries and through the Players Together initiative supporting the NHS.

‘At this time, the men’s first team will not be contributing towards the club financially and instead the board have directed the team to focus their efforts on further supporting other charitable causes.

‘As this crisis develops the club will continue to have conversations with the men’s first team regarding financial contributions to the club’s activities.’

The west London club also confirmed that they will not be furloughing full-time staff, adding: ‘The club can confirm we will not be taking advantage of the government’s current Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which runs to 30 June.

‘We are not planning any general redundancies or furloughs for our full-time staff who are continuing to be paid 100 per cent of their current wages.

‘Casual workers and match day staff employed by the club are being compensated by us through 30 June as if matches had been played and we had been operating as normal.

‘We are continuing our current level of financial and other support to our professional women players and also to our women’s academy programmes. Our women’s team and staff have been very supportive of our charitable activities during this crisis which has been appreciated by both the club and the respective charities.’