Chelsea’s transfer business under Todd Boehly could be severely implicated after Premier League clubs voted for a new rule.
Premier League clubs voted in a shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday to limit the period over which transfer fees can be amortised in their accounts regardless of the length of a player’s contract.
The old rule meant that teams, with Chelsea one to take full advantage, were able to spread the cost of a transfer, in accounting terms, over the length of any contract which saw a way to bypass some Financial Fair Play restrictions. The Blues have done this recently by offering long-term contracts to new signings – some even longer than seven years.
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However, importantly for Chelsea, the change of rule will not backdate to include any transfers that were made before the rule changes, meaning transfers and contracts penned are not affected.
Despite Chelsea’s approach to transfers previously within the rules, it got plenty of criticism after Boehly spent over £1billion on over 29 players since taking the reins at Stamford Bridge in just over a year. Under previous regulations, a player signed for £60million on a six-year contract would cost a team just £10m per year in accounts.
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This approach saw Chelsea sign Enzo Fernandez for £106m from Benfica in January on a deal running until 2031, another high-profile example is Mykhailo Mudryk who signed an eight-and-a-half-year deal following his £62m move from Shakhtar Donetsk last January.
Summer signings Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson all also have deals expiring in 2031.
The changes now mean that a club’s accounts regarding the timeframe a transfer fee can be spread out at is now capped at a maximum of five years. The ruling now moves in line with UEFA who previously closed the same loophole in the summer, meaning the two rules are now the same with a maximum of five years and no backdating from UEFA either.
Although Chelsea were the side most prominently seen to be pushing the rule, it’s said by The Athletic that the Blues were one of 15 clubs who voted in favour of the new ruling.
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