Kieran Maguire questions ‘strange’ twist as Uefa take aim at Chelsea ‘loophole’
It is ‘strange’ that Uefa are changing amortisation rules as Chelsea are taking a risk by signing long-term contracts.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about Uefa’s ‘misguided’ changes to amortisation payments.
As reported by The Athletic, Uefa have implemented a five-year cap on transfer fee amortisation in response to Chelsea’s transfer business.
Previous regulations stated that transfer fees had to be paid off during the length of a player’s contract length, therefore the Blues utilised that rule by striking long-term deals with new arrivals to spread costs.
Chelsea signed a number of long-term contracts over the last two transfer windows, including an eight-and-a-half-year contract with Mykhailo Mudryk and an eight-year deal with Enzo Fernandez.
Uefa’s rule change will not affect any of Chelsea’s previous deals but will stop the London club from repeating similarly structured payments in future agreements.
Maguire was left confused at Uefa’s decision to cap payments as Chelsea’s amortisation strategy could also have significant negative effects.
“The hostility towards Chelsea in relation to signing players to long contracts does seem somewhat strange,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“Ultimately, the club is taking a gamble on recruiting these players and if they don’t work out then Chelsea are effectively on the hook for their wages.
“Therefore, it is Chelsea who are taking a gamble with these long-term deals.
“With regards to the amortisation payments being capped to five years by Uefa, it seems misguided and they don’t really seem to understand the overall impact that signing a player on a long-term deal has both positively and negatively.
“They seem to think it’s a loophole.“
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