Chelsea stars exploring potential escape routes out of the club - Reports

Chelsea players are reportedly exploring potential escape routes out of the club following an extra-ordinary situation at Stamford Bridge.

According to The Telegraph, the Blues could face the prospect of losing their star names due to the Roman Abramovich turmoil.

The billionaire Chelsea owner has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom government and all the assets of the oligarch in the UK have been frozen.

The UK government believes that Abramovich has close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who ordered his troops to invade Ukraine last month.

Despite the 55-year-old denying his links with Putin, Chelsea are now going through a completely unprecedented situation.

The Blues are now operating under a special license and are set to lose almost all of their revenue. Their shirt sponsors Three have also suspended their partnership with the English capital club.

The club's bank account has been frozen by Barclays putting their current campaign under jeopardy.

It is hardly a surprise that the players are now considering exiting the club and have instructed their agents to discuss their options with lawyers.

As of now, the Blues are spending around £28 million each month on salaries and their cash reserves are only £17 million.

Players and staff might have to go unpaid for two months to have 'clear just cause' to terminate their contacts, giving them a 15-day notice period.

Chelsea have the option to renegotiate their special license and the judiciary could also rule in favor of the players given the exceptional circumstances.

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What next for Chelsea?

With Roman Abramovich sanctioned by the UK government and the club's account frozen, Chelsea have been given a number of restrictions.

They have been ordered against buying or selling new players and even negotiating new deals with existing players has been prohibited.

The trio of Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and captain Cesar Azpilicueta are out of contract in the summer.

Even if there was a chance of the trio remaining at the club with a new deal agreed earlier, they are now gone.

It is unclear whether the Blues can even finish the current season given the kind of financial loss they are having to deal with.

They will be allowed to spend around £500,000 in their home games which is about half of their usual while their away game allowance has been limited to just £20,000.

Despite Three having already suspended their £40m-a-year deal with the Blues, Nike and Trivago are expected to remain sponsors of the club, which is definitely good news.

We have to wait and see what awaits the European champions in the future, but what we can say is that the fans, players and staff are paying the price for no fault of their own.