• Chelsea squad has an average age of 29 and a half
• Russian owner will have to dig deep to replace them

The ghosts of José Mourinho’s past, in Chelsea shirts at San Siro last night, are the ghosts of Roman Abramovich’s future – and no one can be certain that the Russian will not be spooked.

As the complexion of last night’s Chelsea team demonstrated, the club have ticked along nicely in recent years without too much expense, the odd £44m yearly loss – small change to Abramovich – notwithstanding. Yet the mere tinkering Chelsea’s squad has required since Mourinho’s departure does not look like lasting long.

Twelve outfield players have made at least 10 league starts for Chelsea this year and by the time next season kicks off, their average age will be 29 and a half. Replacing them could very well require a quarter of a billion pounds of support from Abramovich, in addition to the eight-figure largesse Chelsea annually requires.

In the first flush of his ownership Abramovich unquestioningly signed cheques amounting to that sum. But, if his dream of European conquest is again not realised this year (and with the tawdry allegations surrounding Ashley Cole and John Terry alarming the Russian), questions must be raised as to whether he has sufficient enthusiasm to fund the rejuvenation of his ageing team.

Abramovich’s defenders say the oligarch remains as committed as ever to his club, pointing to the fact he still funds it despite several previous challenges – not least the twilight of Mourinho’s turbulent tenure. But the collapse of Portsmouth stands as a warning of what happens when a Russian patriarch suddenly withdraws his finance. It will be deeds not words that count.

Pompey questions persist

The tax authorities were last night poring over the statement of affairs Portsmouth submitted to the high court. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs is picking over the cashflow statements for evidence of what has gone where during the four different ownership regimes this season. The taxman is trying to find out where all the transfer receipts, a supposedly multi-million-pound injection from Ali al-Faraj and the £17m plunged into the club by Balram Chainrai’s Portpin vehicle have gone. HMRC is said to have £18m to protect and will seek to ensure the expected administrator, UHY Hacker Young, have all the facts to hand.

Uefa’s unfair exchange

Premier League discomfiture at the release of Uefa’s analysis of debts across Europe was inevitable. That 56% of it comes from England is not great PR. But the indignation at Gloucester Place regarding that stark figure is in part well‑founded. At the time the analysis took place the pound was more than 10% stronger against the euro. And where the 2007-08 debt figures equated