Chelsea feel it will take £600 million to expand Stamford Bridge to 60,000 seats.

And Chelsea can only fund a new ground elsewhere if they sell Stamford Bridge, a move that would require them to buy back the freehold owned by Chelsea Pitch Owners plc.

A club proposal to buy the Bridge was blocked at a CPO meeting in October.

And last night a CPO statement said: "We have hoped and felt there might still be some way to expand the capacity of Stamford Bridge.

"Having seen the detailed analysis, we all felt that a persuasive case was made that this might no longer be feasible."