‘Chelsea have outsmarted Aston Villa after sanctions revealed’ – Stefan Borson
Chelsea have “outsmarted” Aston Villa after their Uefa sanctions have been revealed.
Uefa confirmed on 4 July Chelsea have been fined £26.7million and could be fined a further £51.2million if they don’t comply with the rules in the next four years.
Meanwhile, Villa have been fined £9.5million, with the potential of a further £12.9million penalty if they fail to comply in a three-year period.
The punishments relate to a breach of Uefa’s football earnings regulations and its squad cost ratio, where clubs in European competitions were required to keep spending on player wages and fees to 80 per cent of revenue in 2024.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Chelsea have agreed a “better deal” than Villa.
Chelsea sold their women’s team to BlueCo last summer for around £200million, helping them turn their previous £90million loss for 2022-23 into a £128million profit for 2023-24.
However, Uefa rejected the women’s team sale as the governing body operates under different rules to the Premier League.
Villa completed the last-ditch sale of their women’s team last week, helping them raise funds before their accounting deadline on 30 June.
Chelsea get Uefa boost after new reveal
Borson revealed Chelsea are unlikely to feel the effects of their financial penalty until 2029.
He told Football Insider: “What we do know from the scale of Chelsea and Villa’s fines is that Chelsea’s breach was very substantially higher than Aston Villa’s, even on the cost control one.
“It’s slightly different on the football earnings one. Now, football earnings, the stability part of the Uefa rules is effectively like PSR, but with lower overall caps and with all of the funnies that Chelsea get involved in excluded, so you can’t do the tangible asset sales like the hotels and the women’s team.
“You get adjustments for player swaps and player swaps are defined not just as a deal happening on the same day between two clubs but broader, so it may be three weeks apart or it may be the same window.
“The bottom line on Chelsea is that not only did they admit to breaching the year ended June 2024, but also admitted breaching 2025, the year that’s just literally finished.
“What that means is that they pay a higher fine, but also get the first year of a four-year settlement period versus Aston Villa’s three years to be a test against their own budget, which is a really good test for them because they know they’re not going to breach it.
“It’s the budget that they put together based on the latest information at year end, so there’s no way they’re going to fail and the first year is effectively a free year. What that means is they pay £15million more than Aston Villa and push the whole issue out.
“It’s not really going to bite until 2029, the final year of the settlement period in all likelihood. So, I think it’s a very good deal for Chelsea overall. I think they’ve probably outsmarted not just Uefa but also Aston Villa in the negotiation.
“I would say it’s just a better deal than Villa’s.”
Chelsea land £80m windfall after stunning twist
Football Insider revealed on 9 July Chelsea have banked more than £80million in prize money from the Club World Cup this summer.
Enzo Maresca’s side beat Fluminense 2-0 in the semi-finals on 8 July, with new signing Joao Pedro scoring both goals in New Jersey.
Chelsea will now face PSG in the final on Sunday (13 July), where they could land a further £7.4million if they get their hands on the trophy.
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