Chelsea and Aston Villa have been fined by UEFA for breaching its financial rules; Chelsea have to pay £27m and could pay up to £52m more if they do not stick to the settlement agreed; Villa have to pay £9.

Chelsea and Aston Villa have been handed huge fines by Uefa for breaching financial rules – and have been warned they face bans from future competitions if they do not comply. Chelsea were fined €31m, a figure that could rise to €91m if they do not sort out their finances within the next four years.

UEFA defines 'transfer balance' as the difference between cost savings from outgoing players and the new costs from incoming players at the time of the club’s List A submission. In simple terms, any spending to add players to Villa's UEFA List A squad must be offset by the income generated from player departures.