Chelsea's risky strategy stops them breaking rules despite spree

How can Chelsea make £1BILLION of new signings without breaking Financial Fair Play rules? The answer is a high-risk strategy that spreads transfer fees over eight years

  • Chelsea’s spending spree is rapidly approaching the £1billion mark this summer 
  • Since the change in ownership, the club are spreading costs over several years 
  • WATCH: ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ – Episode 1 – Mail Sport’s brand new football show 

As it rapidly closes in on the £1bn mark Chelsea’s staggering spending spree has left members of the public – and officials from rival clubs – asking the same question: how will they get away with it?

While they may not have qualified for Europe following last year’s miserable campaign they, like everyone else in the top flight, have to abide by Premier League spending rules.

But one could be forgiven for looking at Chelsea’s monstrous £785million and rising outlay, with £115m Moises Caicedo the latest big-money arrival (ensuring Chelsea have paid Brighton alone £224m for players and staff since last summer), and wonder if those rules do not apply at Stamford Bridge.

Since the Americans, led by Todd Boehly, arrived, there has been a key change to the club’s business. Now, players are signing contracts with previously unseen durations. Mykhailo Mudryk, for example, penned an eight-and-a-half-year deal.

That means that, when it comes to accounting, Chelsea can spread that cost over a longer period of time which results in a smaller amount annually on the books.

Chelsea’s £115million deal for Moises Caicedo inched their summer spending closer to £1bn

Since Todd Boehly’s arrival, the club have spread their transfer costs over a number of years

Mykhailo Mudryk penned an eight-and-a-half-year contract when he joined last January

It would, at face value, appear to make sense. But UEFA are clearly unimpressed. From this summer clubs will need to pay the fees within five years of a deal being struck – although players can continue to sign longer contracts – as UEFA look to close what has been framed as a financial fair play loophole.

It is not all one-way traffic. There have been a number of outgoings which will go some way to offset the spend. Mason Mount’s £64m move to Manchester United will be pure profit given he came through the club’s academy.

Many feel Arsenal overpaid when taking Kai Havertz for £65m and £41m was picked up from Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly’s moves to Saudi Arabia. Chelsea were compliant at June’s annual reporting cut-off and have time to make further sales before next year’s deadline.

Another positive is that, should an incoming player perform to a high level, it provides the club with security and a confidence they will not lose an asset for less than it is worth.

There is, however, an obvious downside. Put simply, Chelsea have to get the vast majority of these signings right. There have to be significantly more hits than misses. The Premier League’s squad limit is 25. Should a large number of the acquisitions fail – and their values drop – Chelsea will struggle to get them out. 

The players themselves will be reluctant to leave and take a pay cut when they have a substantial number of years left on their deals. A perfect storm will quickly brew should the likes of Caicedo, Mudryk (£88m) and Enzo Fernandez (£106.7m) fail to deliver.

Academy graduate Mason Mount’s £64m move to Manchester United will be pure profit

But a perfect storm will quickly brew should the likes of Caicedo and other arrivals struggle

While it has been more commonplace in the NFL and NBA it is a high-risk strategy. Some may feel that this is an incredibly short-term approach. There are rivals who are convinced they will fail and be punished accordingly, although Mail Sport understands that there is a confidence among the club’s bean-counters that this is the right direction of travel.

When Boehly and his group took over baseball’s LA Dodgers in 2012 they quickly set about revamping the roster of what was an underachieving franchise.

Their spend-big strategy succeeded and, from 2013 onwards, they won their division eight years in a row. In 2020, when they won the World Series for the first time in 32 years, they signed star man Mookie Betts on a 12-year contract. Betts turns 31 in October but there is a strong desire to ensure he never leaves the club for free.

That spending has yielded results but performances in football are harder to predict than in baseball.

Chelsea clearly feel they have got their recruitment right. Their fans will also be hoping such confidence is not misplaced.

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