Chelsea legend Pat Nevin has warned the club could be hit with a points deduction next season.
The former Scotland international believes Champions League qualification is essential within the next 18 months if they want to avoid questions over Financial Fair Play.
Chelsea have recorded huge debts over the past two financial years as new owner Todd Beohly funded a £1bn spending spree - but have offset their immediate liabilities by selling the likes of Mason Mount and Kai Havertz to Manchester United and Arsenal.
But Nevin believes that the Blues could follow his erstwhile club Everton and Nottingham Forest down a path where on-field penalties are imposed.
He said: “My background is accounts and economics and the financial side of it intrigues me with Chelsea. How are they doing it and where is it working? They didn’t fall foul of FFP this time. But I’m seeing Everton get hit and Chelsea are also one of my old clubs - I just hope it’s not happening again.
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“Because if you spent that much and you don’t get Champions League football and you amortise contracts over seven or eight years and that doesn’t work… you need that extra cash to make it work. That’s why I think they need to be in the top four next year. Chelsea are a bit better than they were - but I have to tell you I don’t know if they will be up there. I don’t.”
Nevin, who is still a regular visitor to Stamford Bridge with his punditry duties, says that the rationale behind the splurge in the transfer market was sound. It is just the execution that has been found wanting - with one exception.
He said: "When the new ownership took over I looked at it for a wee while and I thought that it could be good in maybe two years. Notice the 'could.' It's a great experiment. You buy all these young players and they are never going to do well for the first two years.
"I said consistently: ‘Wait two years and then you find out.’ Well, we're over a year in and you see wee things. But do they look close to being in the top four? No. My phraseology is when you watch them a lot they look like a team that's been developed by an algorithm.
Former Chelsea star Pat Nevin (Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images)"So it's a case of: 'That bit's good, that bit's good, that bit's good,' - but the collective doesn't work. There's not that many link-ups. The left-back doesn't work well with the left-winger or that one won't work well with the other one. The exception is Cole Palmer... he can work with anyone."
Nevin says that the size and speed of the revolution has muddied the waters. Expanding the comparison further, he believes that today’s opponents Wolves have a defined style and that he remains unsure what makes up Chelsea’s DNA.
"Wolves, by comparison to Chelsea, you know what their method is, their ethos,” he added. “If you go to see an Ange Postecoglou team you know what they are. If you go to Liverpool you know what they are. You get what the ethos is and the style. It doesn't have to be one system but you get what the concept is.
"Can I see that at Chelsea? Sometimes it might be three at the back, sometimes it might be four. It’s less obvious even though they are trying to make it clearer. Yes, it’s hard when you've just got a lot of young players from all over. But you can do it. I saw Liverpool last week - and have a look at their kids.
"Where are they in the league? They’re doing all right. They’ve come in, it’s been moulded. There's only one player left from their great team of four or five years ago and that’s Mo Salah - and he’s not been there recently. You can do this when you work in a certain way and the academy players have come in and done well too. That's why you have to give Mauricio Pochettino and the club a bit of time."
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