Chelsea and Todd Boehly are likely to sign long-term contracts, according to a football finance expert.
Since Boehly and his American consortium bought the club in 2022 for £4. 25 billion, the project has been to re-establish the Blues as one of the best in the Premier League.
The game plan is simple: spend as much as the league allows to spice up success. However, this technique has not yet worked and, if not careful, could lead to long-term monetary difficulties for the club.
Chelsea have shrewdly avoided PSR infringements so far and have continued their frenzy this summer. The signing of Wolves winger Pedro Neto for almost £60m will push their summer spending above £150m – and they are reported to have failed to do so. However, not all signatures worked and they can turn out to be costly mistakes.
Players such as Mykhailo Mudryk, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana are paid around £200 million and have still made their mark in Chelsea’s first team.
Tom Bason, a football finance expert at Coventry University, has revealed that the lengthy contract presented to those payers, which is used as a tool to breach regulations, could hurt Enzo Maresca’s side again.
“Football transfers are recorded asymmetrically,” Bason said. “This means that they are recorded in the same way when a player is sold as when he is bought. “
“When you buy a player who enters the accounts and with the position of the player, the movement fees during the duration of the contract are amortized over the duration of the contracts.
“Say a club buys a player for £20m and that player has a five-year contract, instead of costing the club £20m in advance accounts, that £20m is spread across the contract. amortization of £4m a year over the five years of this contract is in addition to the £20m move-in fee.
The challenge with Chelsea’s long-term deals then is that their signings do not depreciate in the club’s accounts, making their accounts much more difficult to balance. Expensive signings can be difficult to move as the club will price them much higher than the market. rate.
“The position remains the same,” Bason said of the Chelsea deals. “This is just the moving payment for the duration of the contract. The total you pay remains exactly the same.
“Where Chelsea are potentially at fault is because they have had very long contracts, with few price drops each year. Say, for example, someone like Mudryk, let’s say he is paid £80m for an eight-year deal, loses. £ 10 million a year.
“He [Mudryk] is now valued at £65m on the books [after signing 18 months ago]. This means that for Chelsea to make any profit by letting him leave, they want to sell him for over £65m.
“Maybe this is a challenge that Chelsea have had having such long contracts and if a player doesn’t work, it pays for less year and helps keep a higher price on the books.
Join our new WhatsApp network and get your dose of Mirror Football content. We also provide members of our network with special offers, promotions, and advertising from us and our partners. If you don’t like our network, you can check it at any time. If you are curious, you can read our privacy notice.
Sky has reduced the price of its Sky Sports, Sky Stream, Sky TV and Netflix packages as part of an unbeatable new deal that saves £216 and includes 1,400 games across the Premier League, EFL and more.
With Ultra HD included at no extra cost, football enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the 2024/25 season with transparent image quality.
Follow Tuchel’s Blues. Receive our FREE Chelsea newsletter in your inbox