PL chief hints that Chelsea will have to sell players to avoid financial breaching
As quoted by Daily Mail, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has hinted at the fact that Chelsea will have to sell players to avoid financial breaching.
Chelsea signed eight players in a crazy January window, including breaking the British transfer record to acquire the services of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica on the deadline day.
That is in addition to the eight they signed in the summer window as well. They spent around £600m in the last windows, which is simply too much in any stage of a footballing market.
Talking about that and hinting at how Chelsea can avoid financial breach punishments, here’s Masters (h/t Daily Mail):
“They might have bought, they would argue probably they have a different transfer policy to the previous regime – younger players, longer contracts and lower wages.
“Obviously within our rules, it is a test over a 12-month period so the question is whether they are going to sell some of their existing players in the next window.”
It was reported in February that the club amortised a big transfer fee for new signings over a period of their long contract to avoid financial fair play (FFP) regulations. Hence, we saw the likes of Fernandez, Benoit Badiashile and more signing seven-plus years of contracts.
Whatever they do, it is impossible to show a clean slate when everyone knows the amount of money spent in such a short period of time. Hence, Chelsea might have to sell a few first-team players in the coming summer window.
Moreover, having such a gigantic squad is not helping the manager Graham Potter too. He can only play 11 and only include 18 or 23 in matchday squads. We saw glimpses of his issues when he had to omit the likes of Badiashile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the Champions League squad for the knockout stages.
More Chelsea News:
- Zinedine Zidane and Luis Enrique emerge as favourites to succeed Graham Potter at Chelsea
- Napoli ready to splash the cash to keep Chelsea target Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
- Inter Milan chief confirms Romelu Lukaku will return to Chelsea in the summer
There are already some in line to potentially get sold in the summer. Mason Mount’s contract situation is not getting sorted and Liverpool are confident of getting him. We won’t be surprised if Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech are not sold too. The latter was left stranded when his move to Paris-Saint Germain was close to happening in January.