A new Premier League 'Chelsea law' caps the contract lengths that clubs can hand out to players, meaning Todd Boehly will have to alter his tactics in the transfer market
(Image credit: GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
The Premier League is set to pass a law preventing Chelsea from having any more transfer windows like the previous three under Todd Boehly.
Since the Blues were acquired by the American and the Clearlake Capital group in 2022, Chelsea have spent around £1 billion renovating their squad, breaking the British transfer record twice, on midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.
But now, the Premier League have stepped in – and this could spell a change in direction in West London…
What is this new Premier League law… and how does it affect Chelsea?
Moises Caicedo was a huge buy for Chelsea – but cost less per year than some other transfers of the same value (Image credit: Getty Images)
According to David Ornstein of the Athletic, "Premier League clubs have voted to limit the period over which transfer fees can be amortised in their accounts to five years, regardless of how long a player’s contract is."
So here's a very quick breakdown of what amortisation is – for those of you who don't play Football Manager. When a club buys a footballer, they don't pay the entire fee upfront: that's money that comes out of a budget every year of a contract. So let's take Jack Grealish, from Aston Villa to Manchester City, for example, since he moved for a nice, round £100m.
If Grealish signs a five-year deal for that figure, City must pay Villa instalments of £20m per season of that contract. That's amortisation. So you're wondering how Chelsea have managed to sign so many players for such a lot of money? It's simple: longer contracts. The Blues signed Moises Caicedo over the summer for a base fee of £100m, too – only they only have to pay selling club Brighton £12.5m per year.
That's only £7.5m less than what City are paying but it all adds up, doesn't it? This new law means that Chelsea have to pay for transfers over a maximum five instalments rather than eight. Call it the Klarna rule, if you like.
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Does this mean Chelsea are in trouble?
Not necessarily. Chelsea have done nothing wrong by signing players to extra-long contracts – they've just potentially made it harder to to sell them should they fail to work out.
As with any club, Chelsea have Financial Fair Play laws to consider and the Blues have managed to steer the right side of the red line under Boehly thus far. This new law does mean, however, that they'll have to change the way they spend money going forward. No more beating clubs to targets just because you're willing to supply the money over a longer mortgage – such as the Mykhaylo Mudryk deal.
Luckily for Blues, this new rule will not be backdated to include past transfers and contracts that already running. It's new deals only.
How will Chelsea adapt?
Manchester United's Anthony Martial is an example of a structured deal (Image credit: Getty Images)
There is always the option of approaching the transfer market like everyone else – but there's no law against performance-related bonuses just yet.
Caicedo, for example, has £15m worth of add-ons to be paid to Brighton if he hits certain targets, and he's far from the only player in the league to have this. Anthony Martial's original move to Manchester United was a high-profile example of a move that was largely weighted towards these tickboxes.
A lofty bonus of "Ballon d'Or" winner would have resulted in a hefty chunk of change heading to selling club Monaco, for example – but since the Ligue 1 outfit were confident of the player's talent, they accepted that variable. The deal hasn't been a huge success by any means – but the Red Devils only paid £36m up front for the Frenchman: had he reached his potential, he'd have cost a total of £57.6m.
It seems likely that this is a direction that Boehly and co. will head in, following the brave new world of super-amortisation being closed off with a big sign. And given some of the struggles at Stamford Bridge over the past few months, perhaps performance-related payouts wouldn't be a bad shout…
Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.
