Chelsea have splashed a whooping £585m after Todd Boehly bought the club from beleaguered former owner Roman Abramovich last year.
In the history of the Premier League, Chelsea have changed the spending narrative with an unprecedented spending spree in the transfer market this season.
While Todd Boehly’s insightful step to slough off the old scales and remnant of the old era in the club, Chelsea are not totally free of the sleuthing eyes of UEFA Financial Fair Play Rules.
Meanwhile, the club had navigated a loophole in the Financial Fair Play Rules to break off the sledgehammer of UEFA FFP Rules, given the hordes of new legs that have arrived the club.
Most of Chelsea new signings would have put the club at risk of being earmarked for breaching FFP Rules, but Chelsea have effectively outsmart the European football governing body, by signing high-risk players on long term contracts and spreading the transfer fees over the duration of contracts.
When the contract of Chelsea high-risk new signings such as Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Enzo Fernandez are spread over the duration of their deals, it leaves the club with a moderate amount as the players’ transfer fees on the club’s annual account.
This has made it impossible for UEFA to target the club for breaching FFP Rules despite bringing the likes of Mudryk for £88m, and Enzo Fernandez for a record £106m.
Chelsea’s strategy has prompted UEFA to immediately make moves to seal the loophole by attempting limiting the number of years which a players’ transfer fee can be spread to five years.
However, despite Chelsea’s calculated attempt to beat off the scrutiny of UEFA FFP rules, the Blues will still come under the sledgehammer of UEFA FFP Rules if they fail to qualify for Champions League next season.
Graham Potter’s side are currently 9 points off the top four after 21 Premier League games and a place in next year’s tournament is looking unlikely as things stand.
The Champions League is major source of revenue for all the big clubs in Europe. Chelsea have earned huge amounts through European success, winning both the Europa League and the Champions League twice in the last decade.
If they fail to qualify for the Champions League next season, the club’s finances will definitely be affected.
Chelsea earned around £106m for winning the Champions League in 2021 and around £80m for reaching the quarter-finals the following season.
They projections are that the club will make a further £81m TV money from this year’s Champions League, if they reach the same stage by beating Borussia Dortmund in the last-16.
With the heavy sums infused into the team by Todd Boehly, Chelsea will sail through FFP spotlights irrespective of how far they have gone in the Champions League this season.
However, the tides will turn if they fail to qualify for the competition next year as the club will fall short of revenue with a backlog of the wage bills of new and old players piling up. This will definitely bring them into a head-on collision with UEFA FFP Rules.
UEFA’s rules are slightly different, with new financial and sustainability rules introduced in the summer of 2022 that allow clubs to lose up to €60m (£53m) over three years, but the virtue spending allowances are ignored.
The £88m signing of Mykhailo Mudryk took Chelsea’s transfer spending to a record level in Premier League history, at £445million surpassing the £328m spent by Manchester City in 2017-18. The signing of Enzo Fernandez has further blew off the pecks on Chelsea spending this season.
However, the Blues can still navigate their way through if they can offload some of their players.
Also, they can compound the problems if they continue in their current spending spree with no hopes of Champions League football next season.
