Arsenal earn around £3million per match at the Emirates while Chelsea's income is, on average, £2.2million.

The sale of naming rights is a way of making up that shortfall although Chelsea stressed that the name Stamford Bridge would be retained in any deal and it is understood they are looking for a blue-chip partner for a long-term contract between seven and 10 years.

New Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay explained on Chelsea TV: "Retaining the heritage of the stadium is paramount to considering such a move, but we think that is achievable and, on that basis, we would enter into discussions over naming rights with the right partner for Chelsea.

"We understand that this is a sensitive issue for our fans and that is why we would keep the name Stamford Bridge in any deal.

"What we are not prepared to happen, and I am sure our fans will appreciate this, is to allow our rival clubs in England and Europe to gain a competitive advantage over us in terms of the revenue they can generate, through either expanding the capacity of their existing stadia or moving to a new stadium, and then invest that upside in their team or the club.

"Those possibilities are not open to Chelsea for the foreseeable future because of the restrictions in expanding our stadium and the issues around finding a new site.

"But we need to keep evolving and move the business forward to support the football side and the club generally. This is a potentially realistic way of doing that."

Gourlay also revealed that talks have started with Joe Cole over a new contract.

"Joe's looking to negotiate his new contract for the next four to five years," Gourlay said.

"That process has started and Joe has made it very, very clear he wants to stay with the football club.

"I am sure over the coming months we will be able to work something out."

The current leaders of the Barclays Premier League are appealing FIFA's ban on signing players until 2011, imposed in September after they were found guilty of illegally inducing French player Gael Kakuta to join them.

Gourlay feels Chelsea have "a strong case" and, asked about his role in potential transfer targets, he added: "We have a football club board.

"If there is an opportunity to buy a player who's key to taking us forward and fits in with the team we will decide between the group who's best on a case-by-case situation to deal with that.

"The next five years are going to be very, very challenging. We entered into a 10-year plan, we've set our goals very high, I would like to see us keep playing the exciting football we are doing - I know that's close to the owner's heart - and we've got to win things."