Kieran Maguire: Chelsea handed stunning ‘£126m’ boost after Premier League twist
Chelsea voted to introduce a five-year amortisation cap as it stops their Premier League rivals from copying their transfer strategy.
That is the opinion of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who exclusively told Football Insider that the Blues will gain £126million over a three-year period by exploiting long-term contracts.
As reported by The Athletic, Chelsea were one of 15 top-flight clubs to vote in favour of a five-year cap on paying transfer fees.
Clubs must now pay the entirety of a transfer fee within a five-year period regardless of a player’s contract length.
The regulation will not be backdated, meaning Chelsea can continue spreading costs of previous transfers after signing multiple players to long-term deals.
Enzo Fernandes, Moises Caicedo, Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson all signed contracts that span eight years or longer, allowing Chelsea to pay smaller instalments.
As revealed by Football Insider on Thursday (14 December), the cap not being backdated means Chelsea have escaped having to pay over £80million a season on players signed in 2023/24.
Maguire explained that by voting in favour of the cap, Chelsea have locked in a financial advantage over their top-flight rivals by stopping them from copying their strategy.
“Chelsea decided to vote in favour of a five-year amortisation cap because they’ve used this particular method very successfully and they quite like the idea of nobody being able to follow in their footsteps,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“So they benefit from getting in early and then cutting off the opportunity for others to replicate that strategy.
“Chelsea will make a gain of around £126million over the three-year period in which Financial Fair Play is assessed compared to amortising those players on five-year deals.
“So they are more than happy to have that advantage over their rivals for that three-year period without them being able to copy it.“
In other news, Chelsea expect Chalobah to have left the club for good by 1 February after Tottenham twist