Football finance expert explains why Chelsea are giving long-term contracts to new signings

Finance guru explains why Chelsea have been offering long-term contracts to new signings

Finance expert Kieran Maguire has discussed Chelsea offering long-term deals to their most recent additions on Sky Sports. He wrote:

“What Chelsea have decided to do is spread the cost of the players by signing them to very long contracts. So, by signing Mudryk to an eight-and-a-half-year contract, the way it is dealt with for accounting and FFP purposes is that you take that £88 million cost and you divide that over eight-and-a-half years, and it works out to just over £10 million a year.”

“That appears to be the Chelsea strategy that they have employed over the last couple of windows.”

Chelsea have been poor in the Premier League with just 28 points in 10th place. Their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace further showed they still need a proven striker despite being one of the most active clubs in the transfer market.

The club’s new owner, Todd Boehly, wants to rebuild Chelsea’s roster, and the team has already made a tonne of acquisitions. The Blues have added a total of 15 players since Boehly took over the club, paying £400 million in transfer fees.

Though many have questioned Chelsea’s long-term contracts with their new additions, the length of their deals has surprised people the most.

Chelsea have handed six-year contracts to Marc Cucurella, Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei, and David Datro Fofana. Mykhaylo Mudryk, their most recent acquisition, has a deal that lasts until 2031.

And because of these long-term purchases, Sky Sports analyst and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher have criticised Chelsea’s approach to negotiations.

He claimed that the team is enduring a dismal Premier League run and questioned how these new additions would change that. This could be a tactic used by the American owner to keep the player for a period longer than five years, forcing the other clubs to activate their contracts in order to sign him – if there is such a clause present.

If not, it is a tactic to keep them on their books for the entirety of their deals. However, there are drawbacks, and it will be an issue if the players don’t deliver for the team.

Given their spending in the transfer market, Chelsea then either sends them on loan or terminate their contracts, which will result in a significant loss for the owner. But whatever Boehly intends to do with the distribution of these long-term contracts, we hope it works out and that the new signing stays true to their worth.

More Chelsea News:

• Sergei Palkin reveals why Mykhailo Mudryk chose Chelsea over Arsenal
• Loaned out Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi to decide his future in the summer
• Graham Potter happy with the debut performance of Benoit Badiashile for Chelsea

Hopefully, this doesn’t turn out to be a messy situation. Not a lot of the names we’ve signed under the new American owners are proven names. They’re more of an investment in the future. It is very hard to see all of them unfurling into their best selves on the field but even if half of them become world-class, it’ll probably be a successful bit of business we’ve done in the past two windows.