stunned the football world last season by splashing out almost £600m on 16 new players, setting the scene for a chaotic first campaign under the ownership of and Clearlake Capital.
Not deterred by the widespread criticism over their scattergun approach to the transfer market, nor the 12th place finish last term, Boehly has embarked on yet another huge spending spree this season.
The Blues of Brighton midfielder – but not before agreeing to pay a .
A further six players have headed to Stamford Bridge this summer, taking their transfer outlay to nearly £900m since Boehly completed his £4.25bn takeover last May.
But the American hasn’t finished splashing the cash just yet, with the west Londoners set to complete a deal for for more than £50m, whilst looks set to join the Belgian for a reported fee of around £45m.
And their huge transfer outlay has left just one question on the lips of rival supporters: just how on Earth can Chelsea sign all these players without falling foul of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules?
How have Chelsea avoided breaking Financial Fair Play rules?
So far, Chelsea’s strategy to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules has centered on signing players to long-term contracts.
Caicedo, who has penned an eight-year deal with Chelsea which has an option to extend to a ninth, has become the 22nd player to agree to a contract lasting five years or more.
Fellow summer acquisitions Christopher Nkunku and Robert Sanchez have penned six and seven year contracts respectively.
This has the effect of spreading out the cost of transfer fees over a longer period for accounting purposes – a process known as amortisation.
According to , Chelsea’s near £900m splurge over the last three transfer windows has resulted in an amortised spend of just £157.2m.
This figure is almost entirely offset by an accounting profit of £149.6m from player sales over the same period.
The use of longer-term contracts has been inspired by Boehly’s knowledge of the American sports market, where such contracts are commonplace.
However, reports that the Premier League are now set to close the contact loophole that Chelsea have exploited so effectively over the last three windows.
Chelsea signings under Todd Boehly
- Wesley Fofana – £72m
- Marc Cucurella – £58m
- Raheem Sterling – £50m
- Gabriel Slonina – £8m
- Carney Chukwuemeka – £16m
- Kalidou Koulibaly – £34m
- Cesare Casadei – £17.5m
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – £10.5m
- David Datro Fofana – £10.5m
- Joao Felix – £9.5m (loan)
- Benoit Badiashile – £33.5m
- Mykhailo Mudryk – £88m
- Andrey Santos – £11m
- Noni Madueke – £29m
- Malo Gusto – £31m
- Enzo Fernandez – £107m
- Christopher Nkunku – £52m
- Nicolas Jackson – £32m
- Angelo – £13m
- Lesley Ugochukwu – £23m
- Axel Disasi – £38m
- Robert Sanchez – £25m
- Moises Caicedo – £115m
The Premier League will bring their accounting rules in line with UEFA’s next summer, who themselves had responded to Chelsea’s creative approach by setting a five-year limit for transfer fees to be paid.
Contracts lasting five years or longer will still be able to be handed out to players in order to protect their transfer value.
The move comes amid reported rumblings in the boardrooms of rival Premier League club’s over Chelsea’s strategy.
The club also broke the British transfer record back in January with the signing of Argentina’s midfield maestro Enzo Fernandez for £107m from Benfica.
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