Chelsea reveal £8.3m Mourinho payment

London (AFP) – Chelsea paid Jose Mourinho and his staff £8.3 million ($10.1 million) following his sacking last season, taking the total severance payments to the Portuguese coach and his assistants to a remarkable £31.4 million since 2007.

Mourinho was axed by Blues owner Roman Abramovich in December 2015 after his mutinous team lurched towards the Premier League relegation zone just months after being crowned English champions.

It was the second time Russian billionaire Abramovich had been forced to splash out following a parting of the ways with Mourinho, who was hired as Manchester United manager in May last year.

In 2007, Abramovich paid Mourinho and his staff £23.1 million in compensation after sacking the Chelsea boss.

The payments were revealed in Chelsea’s 2015-16 accounts, which also showed the west London club gave kit supplier Adidas £67 million in compensation for cancelling a 10-year deal six years early so it could sign a much better contract with Nike.

The Adidas deal was worth about £30 million a year to the club, but the new 15-year pact with Nike, which starts next season, will bring in £60 million a year.

Despite record turnover of £329.1 million and a £49 million profit on player trading, Chelsea still managed to post a £70.6 million loss.

On the field, Chelsea are back in credit under the leadership of Antonio Conte, the Italian coach who has taken them to the top of the Premier League after a fine start to his reign as Mourinho’s permanent successor.