The Chelsea hierarchy have a difficult decision to make over what to do with Stamford Bridge, potentially facing six years of playing at a temporary venue if they decide to redevelop their stadium.
The west London club has long been in a pickle on what to do with their ground, long before Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over a couple of years ago.
Former owner Roman Abramovich had plans to redevelop and significantly increase the capacity of Stamford Bridge from its current 40,343, but they never came to fruition.
The current owners are now also struggling to come to a conclusion on whether to upgrade the home of the club since 1905, or move to a new stadium.
The Sun reports that redevelopment of Stamford Bridge would be too difficult to do without entirely demolishing the ground and rebuilding it on the same site – so not really redevelopment at all.
Liverpool have been upgrading Anfield stand by stand in recent years, but that is reportedly not an option for Chelsea in the built-up area of west London which Stamford Bridge sits.
To demolish the stadium and rebuild a new one would likely take six years, meaning the club would have to play home games elsewhere, possibly Wembley, for that lengthy stint.
The other option for the Chelsea chiefs is to build a new stadium in the region of 60,000 seats, most likely on the site of the former Earls Court Exhibition Centre.
However, that will be an extremely expensive move, with the land, around a mile from Stamford Bridge, likely to cost around £500m on its own.
With the cost of a brand new stadium on top of that, it could be around £1.5bn that the Chelsea hierarchy would have to stump up to build a new home.
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