Exclusive: Chelsea ‘internal strategy’ behind Sarr, Gittens news after rule change
Chelsea’s recruitment continues to be centred around signing young players on long-term contracts despite rule-changes on amortisation.
This is according to football finance expert Dan Plumley, who explained to Football Insider why the Blues are signing youngsters to seven or eight-year-long contracts.
Since the West London side was bought by the Todd Boehly-led consortium in 2022, the club has been renowned for its aggressive approach in the transfer market.
The Blues have been pioneers in finding ways to continue spending, whilst avoiding sanctions for potentially breaking profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
Chelsea signed players such as the currently-unavailable Mykhailo Mudryk, and Enzo Fernandez to eight-year contracts to reduce the annual payments that would be recorded on the club’s accounts.
UEFA responded by changing its rules in June 2023, limiting clubs to a five-year period in which they can record a transfer fee on their accounts.
More recently, Chelsea sold their women’s team to themselves for £198.7million, although the Premier League have been unable to close that loophole.
Mamadou Sarr, Jamie Gittens deals a ‘strategic decision’ by Chelsea
Although a deal was unable to be completed before the Club World Cup, Chelsea agreed a seven-year contract with Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens [The Athletic], despite the UEFA rule-change.
The Blues may choose to revisit a move for the Englishman, but meanwhile, another youngster, Mamadou Sarr, has joined the club on an eight-year contract [BBC Sport].
Whilst these contract lengths may look like a needless throwback to the PSR-dodging deals of old, finance expert Plumley told Football Insider exclusively they were merely an “internal strategic decision”, for the club’s in-house book-keeping.
He said: “Ultimately, it’s an internal strategic decision; they can still use those seven, eight years to amortise the contract internally on their own records.
“They’ll have to adjust that for UEFA and the Premier League, so they have to report over five years, but they’ll report those figures in their own calculations against seven and eight years.
“There’s a bit of internal book-keeping and housework part of that, ultimately it’s a strategic decision.
“They can still sign those players on long contracts, and we’ve talked about the risk and reward balance with that.
“They will have to report over five years to the governing bodies, but they can choose to do what they want to a degree with their own contracts and how they book those internally.
“It ultimately is an internal strategic call from Chelsea to keep doing that.”
Chelsea eye move for young Sporting CP star Ousmane Diomande
Mick Brown told Football Insider exclusively that Chelsea are interested in signing Sporting CP defender Ousmane Diomande.
However, the Blues will face stiff competition from Crystal Palace and Man United for the 21-year-old centre-back.
If Diomande were to make the switch to West London, he would join a jam-packed defensive unit headlined by Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana.
With just two years remaining on his deal in Lisbon, the Portuguese champions may look to cash in on the Ivorian defender whilst interest is high.