A football finance expert has slammed Chelsea's owners for their approach to the transfer market and said their decision to hand out long contract to amortise transfer fees is «not revolutionary». The Blues have spent more than £1billion across three transfer windows since Boehly took over the reins from Roman Abramovich in May lasy year.
But Chelsea are yet to see the fruits of that transfer outlay, with the Blues still struggling on the pitch, despite being on their third different permanent manager in that time and fifth manager overall. Mauricio Pochettino is the latest incumbent, but has encountered similar problems to his predecessors, with just one win in his opening six games to leave the Blues 14th in the Premier League table.
A plethora of players have come and gone at Stamford Bridge, with many of the incoming players signing massive contracts at massive prices — a decision that has seen the club circumnavigate any financial fair play issues, with transfer fees able to be amortised over the length of the contract on offer. Mykhailo Mudryk, for example, cost around £88million, but he was signed on an eight-and-a-half year contract, meaning the transfer fee could be spread over that time period for FFP purposes.
However, football finance expert Dr Rob Wilson, who is professor of economics at Sheffield Business School, said other teams would have been doing the same thing if it was the correct call. Speaking to Saxo, he said: «Chelsea's strategy of handing players eight-year contracts is hugely risky, it's been done deliberately to maximise the investment and acquisition of other players in order to amortise those player contracts so they will fit under the FFP regulations.
»It's a massive gamble. Mudryk has been
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