How Chelsea broke the transfer market

it was a transfer window unlike any other it shocked the watching world and it seemed financially impossible but this is the story of how Chelsea took advantage of Luke poles spent 290 million pounds and broke the transfer market in January 2023 in the space of just a few hours on the final day of the transfer window Chelsea spent a Premier League record transfer fee sanctioned the sale of their Vice Captain and managed to drive one of Europe's biggest clubs to distraction to such an extent that they labeled Stamford Bridge a class a circus so the transfer record first of course it was Enzo Fernandez on January the 3rd fellow co-owners Todd bowley and Jose e Feliciano had boarded a plane along with Bedard ekbali a co-founder of Clear Lake Capital to London they met Ben figure president rui Costa and Fernandez's agent George Mendes for dinner at the Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge to discuss the purchase of the player during which Benfica made it clear that they wanted the 106.7 million pound release Clause paid in full now at that time Chelsea had no intention of meeting that valuation one factor that would change their mind however was learning of two clubs ready to spend 100 million pounds on Fernandez in the summer by which time the londoners might not be able to offer Champions League football it was now or never they felt Chelsea would pay in six installments rather than one lump sum with the first down payment of 30 million pounds and a deal completed just after midnight on Deadline day the delegation in Cobham were ecstatic although not everyone shared their Joy on the same day Hakim ziyesh traveled to Paris to secure a loan to PSG the 29 year old was in psg's offices waiting for positive news by evening there had been nothing from Chelsea for a while and ziesh's agent became increasingly agitated ziege took to messaging boli directly pleading with the co-owner to speed the process along at 9 40 PM having been given the go-ahead to conclude a loan until June PSG sent Chelsea a markup of their agreement the document needed to be signed and returned to be lodged with the league the football professional instead nothing happened according to a PSG Source a succession of unsuccessful attempts were made to contact Chelsea by telephone with the deadline minutes away just before 11 pm an email was received but the attachment was not the correct document it was also unsigned PSG resent the loan agreement signed by the club and by ziesh and once again received an erroneous document by return again unsigned the right form was sent at the third attempt at 1103 pm and the contract was downloaded on the French league system a minute later but the deadline had been missed the source described Chelsea as a class a circus Chelsea contest that sequence of events they were also mystified by suggestions that no one had responded to a phone call regardless ziesh was left stranded in Paris looking for somewhere to stay now incoming signings have obviously been more successful when for instance it was decided that Chelsea would go all out to hijack Arsenal's move for Michaela mudrick Club Representatives flew to Turkey and persuaded both the Winger and the shakhtar Donetsk hierarchy over 8 to 10 hours of presentations and talks to deal with them instead Fernandez and Modric headline an exciting and Youthful list of Acquisitions that include Defender Benoit bettyashile Winger Noni madueki midfielder Andrei Santos and forward David Detro fafana fullback malagusto has also been signed and loaned back to Leon until the summer and all of these players fit a certain profile unlike the summer of 2022 Chelsea were determined that their signings in January would all fit their broader Vision to build a squad of young hungry footballers of Elite Talent the bigger question though is how Chelsea were able to make this unprecedented level of transfer spending work within uefa's Financial fair play regulations and the answer is complicated and based around player amortization and contract lengths so by signing Enzo Fernandez to a deal that runs until June 2031 for example Chelsea have enabled his 106.7 million pound transfer fee to be spread across eight and a half years on the books rather than a more conventional four or five thereby greatly reducing his yearly cost on the accounts Gusto and summersigning Wesley fafana a role on similarly long deals this amortization trick which could end up backfiring if the players on those super size contracts fall short of expectations on the pitch is one of the conditions boli and Clear Lake have exploited to carry out the level of spending that most elite clubs would have to stretch across three or four summer windows another comes from the other half of our football club's report transfers in their accounts transfer fees for purchase players might be amortized over the length of their contracts but transfer fees for players sold are booked immediately minus their remaining amortized cost on the books these differing accounting practices can make it surprisingly easy for clubs to significantly offset or even completely balance signings now UEFA have already moved to close the amortization loophole for future transfer Windows even if a player is signed on a seven or eight year contract from the summer onwards their transfer fee will be spread over no more than five years in any ffp calculation so even clubs who can afford to copy Chelsea's approach in January 2023 won't be able to and it's been a more targeted strategy than assumed the club have signed players aged 23 or under who can either blossom into key components or grow their resale value even if those winter signings fail to impress at Stamford Bridge the majority are on considerably lower salaries than many of their teammates acquired under abremovic Modric for example earns a basic wage of 97 000 pounds per week their contracts also contain Provisions that reduce wages if the club does not qualify for the Champions League the thinking being that these shifts in policy will make underperformers far easier to sell now no one should expect this level of transfer spending to continue indefinitely of course but the scale of bowling Clear Lake's ambition for Chelsea is remarkable as has been the money they've put behind this Lightning Fast transition towards a new era if you like this video please consider subscribing to the channel the athletic is home to some of the world's best sports journalists including journalists dedicated to each Premier League team so every fan gets the coverage they deserve not just the big clubs and you can try it for free now for 30 days see the link in the description

Channel: Tifo Football

Views: 311,271

Keywords: tifo football, tifo football youtube, youtube tifo football, tifofootball, tifofootball youtube, Chelsea, transfers, transfer window, transfer record, cfc, chelsea owners, chelsea finances, graham potter, todd bohely, premier league, epl, uefa, champions league, ffp, financial fair play, wesley fofana, mudryk, enzo fernandes

Id: pnjwTvJLCxg

Length: 7min 8sec (428 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 29 2023