Chelsea ‘on FIFA’s radar’ after two more controversial deals agreed
FIFA will be looking at Chelsea after they chose to sell two of their youngsters to sister side Strasbourg.
That is according to finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that the Blues had found their way around the governing body’s legislation.
Chelsea have made use of the fact that they’re parent company, BlueCo, also own Strasbourg by regularly doing business with the French side.
Last season, Diego Moreira made the move to the Ligue 1 side permanently, whilst Andrey Santos and Djordje Petrovic starred for Liam Rosenior’s side.
And this year, Mike Penders and Kendry Paez have moved to Strasbourg on loan, whilst Mamadou Sarr has returned for a season on loan after joining the Blues permanently in the summer.
FIFA rules state that only three players can join one club from another in the same window, seemingly putting an end to the loan business between the two for 2025.
FIFA cannot stop Chelsea and Strasbourg business
This article contains exclusive comment from Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
However, Chelsea have skirted FIFA’s rules by selling Mathis Amougou and Ishe Samuels-Smith permanently to Strasbourg.
The Sun report that the Premier League side has a buy-back clause in place for the French midfielder.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Plumley explained that FIFA will be looking into these transfers: “I think it’s on their radar, for sure.
“This is a way around that particular legislation on loans. You might loan a couple, but then you’ll sell a couple, and ultimately it’s in the same group, so you might then buy them back.
“Chelsea are not the only ones that have done that in recent years, and this is the whole piece with multi-club ownership and connected parties.
“There’s lots of benefits to it. But there’s also lots of ways you can pull certain levers to help the ultimate club out.
“I think that’s always the tricky thing here is in that group what is the ultimate club? And in this one it’s pretty clear that it’s Chelsea.
“Fifa are aware of it. But, without huge changes to that legislation there’s not a lot they can do there.
“It is not an illegal move. It’s within the boundaries of it.
“We look from the outside looking in and can understand what’s going on there.
“But it’s not anything where they’ve overstepped the line at the minute, and we’ll see clubs continue to do this within those multi-club ownership groups.”
Chelsea and FIFA lock horns
The governing body will be looking at the West London club for several reasons this summer.
Chelsea may not have a place in the next edition of the Club World Cup in 2029, despite winning the inaugural revamped version of the competition this year.
FIFA are unhappy that the rules they set in place stopped the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona from participating.
Gianni Infantino wants to expand the competition to 48 teams from 32, although UEFA would oppose this decision.