No more long-term contracts? Chelsea forced by UEFA to address Financial Fair Play rules

Chelsea spent more than 165 million euros on six new players in January. In total, it has invested €460 million in reinforcements in the last two transfer windows. Understandably, this has lifted UEFA representatives out of their chairs, who immediately plan to rethink their view on FFP (Financial Fair Play).

Let’s be honest, it’s been far from a great season for Chelsea so far. They had high hopes of challenging for the Premier League title, but after a few games into the new season they sacked manager Thomas Tuchel. Graham Potter then came in from Brighton. He started well, only for the Blues’ form to fall off a cliff.

New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is desperate to promote a new manager whose team is defending as high as tenth in the Premier League. The Blues have signed an incredible six players this month. David Datro Fofana, Andrey Santos, Benoit Badiashile, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke have all joined permanently. While Joao Felix has joined on loan from Atletico Madrid.

Mudryk, for example, signed the longest contract in the history of English football when he signed for eight-and-a-half years. That means his €70 million transfer fee will be valued at €8.23 million per season, according to UEFA’s FFP calculations.

So how did they manage to spend such a large amount of money without having problems with FFP? Since the arrival of the aforementioned Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, the London club has started giving new players long-term contracts – six years, seven years and more. However, that is probably over.

Why has UEFA changed the FFP approach for Chelsea? Firstly, Chelsea’s spate of transfers in the last two transfer windows and the exploitation of loopholes in Financial Fair Play, which according to The Times provoked UEFA to change their regulations .

UEFA are now going to set the period over which clubs can spread the transfer sum of a new player to a maximum of five years. The new policy is due to be introduced before this summer’s transfer window.

FIFA regulations state that contracts should be a maximum of five years, unless a country’s law says they can be longer.

Even UEFA officials have told Chelsea that this will help them avoid financial problems in the future. Furthermore, the London outfit will not be prevented from spreading the cost of payments for players it has already signed.

Source: Twitter