Premier League clubs vote for five-year limit on paying transfer fees regardless of length of players' contracts

Premier League clubs no longer be able to spread cost of a transfer fee across more than five years of a player’s contract; Chelsea signed a number of players on lengthy deals in the summer of 2022 and in January of this year; rule change will not be backdated

Tuesday 12 December 2023 16:16, UK

Premier League clubs will no longer be able to spread the cost of a transfer fee across more than five years of a player’s contract.

In June, UEFA announced it had closed a loophole allowing clubs to spread a fee over a longer period, and on Tuesday the Premier League confirmed its clubs had now voted to amend competition rules to bring the league in line with European regulations.

Chelsea signed a number of players on lengthy deals in the summer of 2022 and in January of this year, including handing eight-and-a-half-year contracts to Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk in January. The rule change, however will not be backdated meaning such deals will be unaffected.

If transfer fees are spread evenly over the course of a contract, it means the longer it is, the smaller the annual payments recorded on the club's accounts are.

For instance, a £100m fee would be amortised at £20m a year with a five-year contract, but at only £12.5m a year if a deal was eight years.

A league statement read: «Going forward, a five-year maximum will apply to all new or extended player contracts.»

Clubs also approved a rule amendment empowering the league's board to block a club from registering new players where they owe a transfer debt to another Premier League or EFL club until the debt is paid.

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The board also has the option to deduct the amount owed