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How Chelsea broke the transfer market

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  • Published on Mar 27, 2023 veröffentlicht
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    Chelsea’s recent transfer activity has been like nothing seen before in football. It seemed financially impossible. Breaking transfer records, with no guarantee of making that money back, with no guarantee of Champions League football. How did they manage it?
    This is the story of how Chelsea took advantage of loopholes, spent £290m and broke the transfer market in January 2023.
    Written by Liam Twomey and Simon Johnson. Illustrated by Henry Cooke.
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    #Chelsea #CFC #Transfers
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Comments • 445

  • Toji
    Toji 2 months ago +433

    3 years from now we'll be talking about how this transfer window actually broke Chelsea, not the other way around

    • Dave Nalunat
      Dave Nalunat 2 months ago +34

      You wish

    • Goldboy1975
      Goldboy1975 2 months ago +4

      A lot depends on whether Potter can get these kids to gel and play consistently. If he does, could be great if not it could go very wrong very fast.

    • Bruno Londinese
      Bruno Londinese 2 months ago +1

      *6 months from now.
      That's as long as any Chelsea signing has before he's trashed by the fans. Even if they win a champions league, it doesn't mean a thing

    • Alberto Nicolae
      Alberto Nicolae 2 months ago +17

      Love to see the hate 💙. We thrive from this, keep hating and we’ll keep having success and get trophies. Business as usual

    • ali ali
      ali ali 2 months ago +3

      @Alberto Nicolae and *buy* trophies

  • Leon Clark
    Leon Clark 2 months ago +510

    Boehly was probably influenced by baseball, where players are given longer contracts sometimes over 10 years. This will be beneficial in maintaining a high transfer value and keeping the player under club control preventing them from leaving on a free.
    But if the player underperforms, you are stuck paying a lot of money for a player that nobody wants. It was smart of Chelsea to put in the clauses allowing a wage drop in case of bad results.

    • Hung Choong How
      Hung Choong How 2 months ago +13

      Yes, baseball does provide a lot of pointers for professional football.

    • Daniel Orji
      Daniel Orji 2 months ago +39

      If the player underperforms, clauses in their contracts reduce their salaries making them easier to sell.

    • Ahmad Afiq
      Ahmad Afiq 2 months ago +18

      ​@Daniel Orji doubtful if ever in the player contract. Most likely their performance bonuses get cut if they didnt make the ucl .
      The players wage will remain untouched unless somehow they get relegated 😂.

    • joeytorreo
      joeytorreo 2 months ago +2

      I was just about to say the same thing

    • TheUrbanTurban
      TheUrbanTurban 2 months ago

      @Hung Choong How it’s still a professional sporting contract. I really shouldn’t imagine they’re that different.

  • Heisenberg
    Heisenberg 2 months ago +405

    Can you make a video on why Hungary hasn't kept a top level of football, like the Netherlands? Hungary saw a lot of success between the 30s and 50s, being a twice WC runner-up and winning Olympic Gold 3 times but they had a dramatic fall since their last gold: No big, successful player on the big leagues, their teams don't do well on European level, their national team doesn't go to the WC anymore, etc.

    • RedWins
      RedWins 2 months ago +40

      Probably had to do with most of the financial focus in the eastern bloc being on east Germany and the Soviet Union but idk
      Video would be interesting

    • andrei
      andrei 2 months ago +18

      Fall of socialism

    • Okpara Emmanuel
      Okpara Emmanuel 2 months ago +6

      i think alfie @hitcsevens will be a able to give you a detailed explanation if you ask

    • Blankname
      Blankname 2 months ago +16

      All their good players are in RB Leipzig lol, Orban, Szoboszlai and Gulacsi.

    • James Porter
      James Porter 2 months ago +1

      The eastern bloc affect

  • Concerned Citizens
    Concerned Citizens 2 months ago +80

    Well now Chelsea has 32 first team players and 22 players on loan. To balance the books they would at least need to sell 8 players but it’s tricky considering not many clubs in Europe that can afford extravagant transfer fees maybe Boehly could buy another club to offset these players and create a football group like City does considering that’s his intention in the first place.

    • Kamran Green
      Kamran Green 2 months ago +25

      Already being done. Strasbourg in France, looking for a Portuguese team as well

    • Ahmad Afiq
      Ahmad Afiq 2 months ago +15

      Trying to create an artificial leverage by buying a feeder club to offload their unwanted stars. Hopefully uefa put a banhammer on this which sadly they don't.

    • Green Weed
      Green Weed 2 months ago

      @Kamran Green Aren't Strasbourg part of City group

  • J
    J 2 months ago +112

    It sounds like a really clever trick, but they're only tying one hand behind their back for the next 8 years when it comes to bringing more players in. It reminds me of when teams bring in older players on big money, and then offer them 4 or 5 year contracts. In the short term, it looks like a great coup, but 4 years later, they still have a 35 year-old on the books earning money well in excess of their on-pitch contribution. Or they end up out on loan with the parent club paying most of their wages.

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +9

      No they're not. All the player's transfer fees in the squad are amortised. As players are sold or finish their initial contracts, they are paid off in the books, meaning new players can be bought. Amortising 8 or so players over an extra 3 years will have a negligible effect overall.

    • barry barry
      barry barry 2 months ago +5

      That’s why the top players being brought in are young players that are seen as important players for the spine of the club which needed to happen, reminds me of early on when Chelsea signed the likes of drogba, lampard etc

    • sinksinkswim
      sinksinkswim 2 months ago +2

      @Hugh M it could potentially have an effect if they sell a player before their contract ends as any player they sell will have a higher book value due to the slower amortisation of their fees. That will hit their p&l so could potentially result in them recording a bigger loss for any year in which they sell one or more of these players.

    • Gabriel Leblanc
      Gabriel Leblanc 2 months ago

      That last part describes Juventus very well

    • Kevin Murphy
      Kevin Murphy 2 months ago +2

      Also *crucially* (and this was in the video we all just watched), their wages are very reasonable. This means that they will be easy to move on if they flop and is quite unlike the example you gave of veteran signings who leave you stuck with a high earning underperformer who you can’t move on to another club. Plenty of clubs would be happy for a half-baked mudryk at only 97k/week if he never reaches his potential

  • Victor Velasquez
    Victor Velasquez 2 months ago +523

    The fact two of the biggest richest clubs in the world still use fax and can get documents wrong is hilarious, even if it is intentional, still remember the Real Madrid/De Gea debacle and find it hilarious

    • Benish Ben
      Benish Ben 2 months ago +52

      Well it is just as quick as using whatsapp and quicker than email, also probably for legal reason involved

    • Luke McLellan
      Luke McLellan 2 months ago +11

      ​@Benish Ben quicker than email?

    • Justin Wan
      Justin Wan 2 months ago +47

      it's surprising to me how widely fax is still used for really formal documents

    • J
      J 2 months ago +7

      Fax works just like email anyway.

  • Nketiah's lawyer
    Nketiah's lawyer 2 months ago +19

    Works great in theory. But to think Chelsea wont have to spend significantly in the next 5 plus years is utopian. The costs will definitely pile up with changes of managers (who want to bring in their signings) and players wanting out.

  • Thamsanqa Jantjies
    Thamsanqa Jantjies 2 months ago +11

    What we did to Ziyech was so horrible

  • My Opinion Doesn't Matter
    My Opinion Doesn't Matter 2 months ago +3

    This whole extended amortisation thing was done exactly once in Australia's biggest football code (10 year contract for a guy who at the time was only expected to maybe play 4) and was promptly stomped out after.
    Funny that the wild wild west of sports (in terms of fairness where nearly anything goes financially) hadn't tried this tactic yet when its an extremely obvious way to "beat" FFP for short term gain. Its 100% the type of thing you'd expect PSG/City to do when they started.

  • The
    The 2 months ago +32

    When your spread these cost down the line, it is fine if you are sure the players you signed are suited to your footballing philosophy. When you have a bloated squad on big fees, it's likely you won't get the same fees when you're trying to sell them later. As Arsenal found out, its not easy to get rid of players on long contracts and likely Chelsea will have to pay them off.

    • TompaLegend
      TompaLegend 2 months ago +1

      I think todd knows more than you

    • 看海人
      看海人 2 months ago

      @TompaLegend Know is one thing. And nail it is another. It is still a high risk move. The new players bring in must perform well.

    • TompaLegend
      TompaLegend 2 months ago

      @看海人 lets wait and see when you will cry later

    • 看海人
      看海人 2 months ago

      @TompaLegend No need to wait. When the season ends, you will have two players to offload with not so long contracts, Lukaku and Auba. See how it goes. This is what I call risk. It is there. Players can play poorly and lose his market value.

  • Alorio - Gori
    Alorio - Gori 2 months ago +81

    Ouch 😢felt bad for Hakim. Meanwhile Jorge Mendes is quite an agent 👏

    • The Political Poet
      The Political Poet 2 months ago +17

      And Benfica are quite the club given they signed him for €18m and five months later sold him for north of €120m. Great play from Rui Costa.

  • Duane
    Duane 2 months ago +1

    Very interesting strategy. I wonder how those non-CL wage reduction clauses work. Per session basis? Surely none of these players moving in January expected to be playing in the CL with Chelsea next season.

  • noel deegbe
    noel deegbe 2 months ago +3

    I like the winter transfers we have a clear direction. The summer transfers have recently been working out. One thing for sure we have great business men as owners.

  • Psycho Thinker
    Psycho Thinker 2 months ago +20

    Feels like every transfer window these days is unlike any other

  • MK
    MK Month ago +1

    I don’t think Chelsea’s splurge was such a bad thing. They bought young, mostly unproven players. It’ll be exciting to watch them develop.
    Had they have bought several world class, well established players, that would have been a different story…

    • Marc Baigrie
      Marc Baigrie Month ago

      When have Chelsea ever developed anyone?

    • Dan Waters
      Dan Waters 27 days ago

      @Marc Baigriethey have one of the best academy’s in the world 🙃🤡

  • John Philips
    John Philips 2 months ago +9

    Still can't believe we managed to land Enzo. Insane baller that didn't need any "period of adjustment"

    • Ben White
      Ben White 2 months ago +5

      what’s difficult to believe about buying a player for £106million?

    • John Philips
      John Philips 2 months ago +1

      @Ben White cry

    • Oh Hi Mark
      Oh Hi Mark Month ago

      Yeah, you waved money and he went. Not really that hard mate

  • Reflections And Resonance
    Reflections And Resonance 2 months ago +43

    People talking about karma like Chelsea did something bad. They followed the rules and as a business took on long term costs. Its worth listening to Simon Jordans explanation of why what they did wasn't wrong and how football clubs should be allowed to spend how they want as long as they're within ffp regulations.

    • Dan Preston
      Dan Preston 2 months ago +11

      It’s never worth listening to Simon Jordan.

    • kill3rb33
      kill3rb33 2 months ago +1

      They wish bad on Chelsea always. Remember when they said Chelsea would get liquidated after Roman? 😂😂😂😂

    • Lam Lam
      Lam Lam 2 months ago

      If u are the last one to take the exploit then it gets closed. It's a genius

    • Reflections And Resonance
      Reflections And Resonance 2 months ago +2

      @Dan Preston Maybe not always for the football side of things but his business knowledge is spot on. Have a listen to what he says. The vids on Clip-Share.

    • Connor Love
      Connor Love 2 months ago +2

      Bro said Simon Jordan 😂😂😂

  • Hamish Williams
    Hamish Williams 2 months ago +28

    All the focus is on how it's a profit for the books. But Boehly and Clearlake, you assume, would also be needing to turn an actual profit at some point.
    And that's going to be tricky when the number of clubs who can actually afford those players is limited to a handful in Europe

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +3

      The contract for the sale of the club dictated they can't take dividends for 10 years. It's a very long term vision. They are not aiming to turn a profit through player sales, They are aiming to raise revenue via commercial, matchday and broadcasting. The way to do that is to win on the pitch.

    • Ossi Aigbedo
      Ossi Aigbedo 2 months ago +4

      @Hugh M I don’t think they’ll do any of that. Chelsea’s stadium isn’t anything compared to the new Spurs stadium. They’ll struggle to turn a profit then get sanctioned. 39 players on their books. Boehly tried to monopolise the transfer market. You see in the states most sports have one dominant league so you get a player. There’s not many places they can go if they’re an up and coming talent. Means players don’t down tools. Here. Whilst some clubs can’t afford the transfer fees, they certainly can afford the wages. So players down tools for 4/5 seasons. Chelsea loses a stupid amount of money. Then they leave for free.

    • Hamish Williams
      Hamish Williams 2 months ago +1

      @Hugh M Chelsea's matchday and commercial revenue growth is hampered by the size of Stamford Bridge. There's no room to redevelop it so if they want to grow that they need a new stadium, that's another £1-2 billion. UK TV rights values have stalled, so they're hoping the US ones do the heavy lifting.
      And that ignores that player sales were a crucial part of Chelsea's business model under Abramovich, and even they made losses almost every season.

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +1

      @Hamish Williams you're clearly not a Chelsea supporter if you don't know that plans to rebuilt the stadium are already well underway and it was a condition of the sale.
      The whole point of the new approach is to change the business model and grow revenue to be less reliant on player sales.

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +3

      @Ossi Aigbedo 😂
      What's to stop any player at any other club on a 5 year contract downing tools?
      Also, As stated. If they down tools and the club underperforms. Their wages get cut.
      This anti Chelsea logic is assanine. The are building a new stadium over the next few years. They currently have 32 players on the books for this reason. And it will be even less come the start of next season.
      Maybe do some research on the topic before opening your mouth next time.

  • Lord Way
    Lord Way 2 months ago +1

    No other club being allowed to do this now is unfortunate

    • Josh Dawson
      Josh Dawson 2 months ago +1

      Not really
      There’s a reason no other club does this, the risks are extreme

  • Wayne Verhoff
    Wayne Verhoff 2 months ago +10

    Imagine if they still had Tuchel

  • rockaway0beach
    rockaway0beach Month ago

    It's unbelievable. They found a way to introduce tanking to the Premier League

  • Yumebito
    Yumebito 2 months ago +21

    So if they want to sign further players for the next 5-8 years they have to sell first to balance the books?

    • Barry Pegg
      Barry Pegg 2 months ago +8

      No. Provided they can cover the cost of these transfer in their accounts they can carry on signing players. Effectively, they have increased the "running cost" for the club.

    • Erik Falkegren
      Erik Falkegren 2 months ago

      Yhe if not we get High income from winning things, i think Chelsea Pay 70 mil for alla new players for 7 year. And and they count in a 3 year cycle ffp, so 210 mil - each cycle, but You can have a loss of 110 mil each cycle.

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +1

      It was already the plan to sell players in the summer anyway. No club will spend 8 years with the same squad.

    • Crypto_Mbappe
      Crypto_Mbappe 2 months ago +3

      With the reported loss of 120mil last season and the lack of champions league money for next season; I don’t see how they will make further signings without selling when they have an amortized debts of £600mil already on their books already.
      The idea is good from the board is good but the planning and execution is a mess. Imagine spending €100mil on mudryk; a player you have to still develop whilst spending approx €100mil on sterling and mudueke and also having wingers like Ziyech and pulisic you can still count on at least until the end of the season.
      The squad building from this Chelsea board is a mess and has a very high probability of failure and that will be disastrous for their long term success. Let’s see how many players they can move on in the summer.

  • Sochonik !
    Sochonik ! 2 months ago +10

    I wanted to make a suggestion, you probably have a lot of other fans outside of the UK who don't really know what to do with £/week. It would be great. If you could also mention the annual salary. Then it's easier to understand.

    • Err1x
      Err1x 2 months ago +2

      I think it's fairly obvious that the players are earning exorbitant amounts. Per week is fine.

    • Vinícius Nicácio
      Vinícius Nicácio 2 months ago +10

      Just multiply by 52?

    • Ryan Outram
      Ryan Outram 2 months ago +4

      I'm certain they have weeks outside of the UK.

    • stealthiscool
      stealthiscool 2 months ago +3

      There’s 52 weeks in a year all over the world mate

    • Frank Reynolds
      Frank Reynolds Month ago

      All salaries are mentioned in weeks for footballer. Changing it to annually will be even more confusing.

  • Godot
    Godot 2 months ago +13

    Chelsea were criticised for exploiting this loophole yet if it was Barca or Real that did it, everyone would have called them geniuses

  • Viewer 41
    Viewer 41 2 months ago +14

    I'm not a Chelsea fan at all, but I think there's NOTHING WRONG with what Chelsea are doing.
    Yes, you get around FFP, but there's a risk that comes with that. You might end up with 5 more Winston Boagardes! 😅

    • DavidSoup
      DavidSoup Month ago +3

      they're ruining football, there's a lot wrong with it

  • JesseShorts
    JesseShorts 2 months ago +17

    I feel the transfers will work out
    Mudryk,Madueke and Enzo will succeed while Koulibaly isn’t cuttting it for me same as Cucurella.

    • 00dude3
      00dude3 2 months ago +2

      Madueke is insanely injury prone
      Mudryk looks worse than Pepe when he joined Arsenal
      Chelsea aren't the club to give them 2 seasons to try and come good

    • Ernest Boakye
      Ernest Boakye 2 months ago +1

      @00dude3Has Madueke been injured at Chelsea? Also this new ownership is prioritizing the development of young players? Mudryk has been poor tbf

    • Devid Wobinson
      Devid Wobinson 2 months ago

      And Man City insisted they wouldn’t pay that high price for him. Why? Because their talented staff know what they’re looking at

    • Xavier
      Xavier 2 months ago

      @00dude3 Mudryk looks great. He’s quite raw, but is oozing potential. Pepe was literally never that amazing in Ligue 1. Arsenal’s fault for grossly overpaying for a fairly limited player. The bigger talent in the French league at that time was Malcom

    • Ben White
      Ben White 2 months ago +1

      @Xavier Im certain Mudryk has more potential then Pepe, but all we know is that Mudryk has shown very VERY little of that potential except against a 60 year old James Milner.
      My hope is that Chelsea don’t learn from the mistake of buying a player for £80million who isn’t yet the finished article.
      Those transfer fees should be reserved for players who are everything they need to be at the moment they touch down, because Mudryk doesn’t seem like he’s handling his price tag well.
      He’s got at TikTok, though.

  • Shani Ace
    Shani Ace 2 months ago +1

    That's nothing new though, I've always done that in FM. The contract length isn't even that relevant either, just spreading the transfer fee out is enough to make it work.

  • Ambia Lim
    Ambia Lim 2 months ago +9

    This is what I expect to happen, if The Spiffing Brit is in charge of any clubs transfer...

  • jkb
    jkb 2 months ago +18

    If Mudryk is out of the squad in the next couple of years (pretty likely) his contract gets impaired down to whatever loan fees they think they can get for him. So they end up taking the full remaining cost of his transfer plus his future wages all in one go. That's why it's not a "trick", it's just a gamble, the downside of which Clearlake probably think they can pass on to the next buyer.
    "Amortisation means Chelsea haven't actually overpaid" has been the line being peddled for at least 5 years now. "Chelsea used to spend big on stars but are now spending big on youth so they won't have to spend again" goes back at least 10 years, I remember when they splurged on Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Schurrle etc saying they were going to build a young attacking force to dominate Europe, it didn't last. There's a reason Roman had to keep chucking the club a couple of hundred million every few years to keep things going.

    • William Hancox
      William Hancox 2 months ago +3

      Chelsea have the best client journalists to clear their name

  • Barry Pegg
    Barry Pegg 2 months ago +4

    The whole system seems absurd to me a club can spend £100m on a player but claim the deal effectively had no cost to the club because they now own an asset would £100m. I would like to see the clubs have to give full details of transfer costs and payment details to register a player. Both teams then have to reflect those fees in their accounts. If I understand for Enzo Chelsea paid Benfica £30m to sign him but according to their accounts the player won't cost them any fee till next year when will report the players value has decreased by around £15m.

    • jkb
      jkb 2 months ago

      The point of spreading out the cost in this way is to give a more accurate picture of the clubs profitability in any given year. If clubs (or any company really, amortisation is not football specific) were allowed to take the full cost of investments in year one then they'd suddenly become far more profitable in year 2, 3,4 etc until another round of investment was needed. So the clubs accounts in those years would be extremely misleading, you'd think the club was doing great but actually it could only keep delivering results if somebody spent hundreds of millions to replace ageing players. I think a better way to think of amortisation is as the amount of money the club would need to take out of its profit each year in order to make future investments to keep the club performing at the same level.
      By the way if clubs did take the full transfer cost in the year the player is signed it would be far easier to manipulate for FFP - you could delay signing a £100m player by one day in order to take his cost in the following years accounts. Same for any idea of using when cash payments are made as the basis of the accounts , you would simply do a deal to pay the selling club a day/year/years later in order to put the cost in a year that's more convenient for you. e.g you could pay Benfica 200m for Enzo but say you will pay in 5 years time, that sort of thing.

    • Marc Gains
      Marc Gains 2 months ago

      It's a fairly common accounting practice...Chelsea has signed an asset that is valued at 100m, and until they've actually handed over 100m in cash; from an accounting position they are actually in "profit". It may take another 3 years until the par value of the outstanding sum and perceived value of the asset are equal. By that point, they have probably given a new contract, and therefore increased the future sale value of the asset whilst the remaining money owed is less. It's why the likes of United routinely gave out contracts to their deadwood to give an accounting value. The Enzo deal is likely to be seen as a profit throughout his time at Chelsea.

    • jkb
      jkb 2 months ago

      @Marc Gains No, when the cash is handed over is almost entirely irrelevant - the liability to pay £100m is created the moment the player is signed so the club are not in profit. They then take a cost of 100m/contract length each year. The "profit" they get is the prize money/broadcasting etc they get from the player being in the squad, that's impossible to separate out though.

    • Marc Gains
      Marc Gains 2 months ago +1

      @jkb whilst that's true, what I was referring to, was how they "could" display the book value of the asset - as 100m, whilst it's a depreciating asset against the upcoming liability of say 20m due to the amortization of the transfer fe. That is where in accounting terms it absolutely could be seen as a profit if the asset posted is more than the liabilities for that accounting period. It would be seen as a profit for that year...whereas for FFP they will be looking over a 5 year period where it will balance out...which of course doesn't take into consideration any sales over that time; that will be reported as income on the balance sheet.

  • John Flatt
    John Flatt 2 months ago +10

    I hope we get a Tifo video called the “Chelsea 8” in a few years after these signings don’t pan out. I don’t think anyone will ever top the “Garett Bale 7” in terms of bad signings and Chelsea board are more shrewd than Tottenham and their owners.

    • Ernest Boakye
      Ernest Boakye 2 months ago +3

      Most of these signings have already panned out albeit early days. Enzo, Badiashile, Wesley Fofana. They just need a good manager

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +2

      and we hope you upload a video of yourself crying when they all succeed. Most of them are already looking great.

    • John Flatt
      John Flatt 2 months ago

      @Hugh M chill man it was tongue in cheek and I didn’t say they were bad signings. Just think it would be funny if we had another one of those videos. Notice how I said the Chelsea board are shrewd.

    • John Flatt
      John Flatt Month ago

      @Hugh M not looking good

  • George Bardsley
    George Bardsley 2 months ago +1

    The fact they turned what was a small loop hole into massive hole in the wall is mad

  • Hereweald
    Hereweald 2 months ago +5

    Enzo has been very very good

  • Tukiran
    Tukiran 2 months ago +4

    Enzo chelsea legend...

  • David Peniel
    David Peniel 2 months ago +36

    The only thing that’s left is a competent quality manager

    • Mikey Wallis
      Mikey Wallis 2 months ago +2

      Nagelsmann in the summer let's hope

  • Timmy
    Timmy 2 months ago

    a 100m signing in my eyes was something only the top 5/6 clubs in the world could do and they’d do it once every 4/5 years when they needed a ready made world class player. Chelsea scrapped this idea and bought 2 youngsters with amazing potential but not guarantee in quality at all

  • Aaron Sempf
    Aaron Sempf 2 months ago +3

    „Mudryk for example earns a basic wage of 97k pounds per week.“ British salary system seems to be doing fine

  • Cesar Alarcon
    Cesar Alarcon 14 days ago +1

    How chelsea broke the transfer market and still had a horrible season

  • Robert Smith
    Robert Smith 2 months ago

    So Chelsea now have a team with a lot of new additions on lesser wages. Definitely a stable situation. If they do well they'll be pushing for an increase at which point Chelsea will do what ..... ?

    • Alex
      Alex 2 months ago

      it's an absolute mess. it can see it becoming a worse crisis than man united (pre ten hag). compare it to brighton, and it's the complete opposite of how to run a football club

    • Frank Reynolds
      Frank Reynolds Month ago

      @Alex They have bought many experienced directors which did great at having good transfers at other clubs. Its only been half year they start working. To become like Brighton, they need few years.

  • Om Bhetwal
    Om Bhetwal 2 months ago +33

    Best teams don't win teams with good chemistry perform well at least that's my theory

    • Night King
      Night King 2 months ago +4

      Prime Barca and 3 peat Madrid had both.

    • Ek
      Ek 2 months ago

      @Night King and psg and Chelsea dont

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +11

      @Ek how would you know? Chelsea won the champions league with good players, but not great players. Everything i've heard says the atmosphere in the dressing room is very good, chemistry will take time to create. These players have plenty of time on their side.

    • Johnson T J
      Johnson T J 2 months ago

      ​​@Night King 3 peat Madrid 🤔?

    • sugar kookie with some tae
      sugar kookie with some tae 2 months ago +1

      ​@Johnson T JChampions League.

  • Val Smith
    Val Smith 2 months ago +17

    They might have a problem selling Mudryk even with this wage.

  • randomcon123
    randomcon123 Month ago

    They still paid over the odds for these supposed young talents who flopped. No one will be able to pay them in similar fees to help them get rid of them.

  • Osobad
    Osobad 2 months ago +6

    I feel like Chelsea breaks the transfer market every year. 🤦‍♂️

  • Hristijan Zdravkovski
    Hristijan Zdravkovski 2 months ago +2

    Maybe I am wrong about this, but what would be the insentive of the player not to run down his long and possibly well payed contract if he flops? For example, Enzo turns out to be a gigantic miss and he turns out to be horrible (again, speaking in hypotheticals here) and no other good club would want him? Wouldn't it create a situation where he would just want to run down his crazy long contract, and just collect a paycheck every month for the next 8 years to the harm of the club? We have examples of players running down 4 year contracts just to collect the money, so what would prevent 8 year contracts from being ran down, especially given the fact that chelsea have a bloated roster which guarantees one of these 1 year contracts will flop. In the american sports you would solve this by just trading away the contract but in Europe that does not work that way.

    • Nick Ortiz
      Nick Ortiz 2 months ago +1

      It’s most definitely risky. Enzo is already looking like one of the best midfielders in the entire league though. Mudryk I am not so sure about I could see that costing us in the future 😭

    • Nicolas Castelli
      Nicolas Castelli 2 months ago +2

      I would agree on the risk of that happening to certain players, not Enzo though, that guy is devoted to be the best player he can be like no other, and it shows, he looks levels above the rest every time he plays. One would think the scouting network has background into account when choosing which players to go for.

  • Linus
    Linus 2 months ago +24

    The also signed Christopher Nkunku in December for next season and Joao Felix on loan
    Let's all be real, FFP is only applicable to teams outside the Premier League

    • Hipbo96
      Hipbo96 2 months ago +1

      Chelsea and Man City have already been punished by FFP , so lets be real lol

    • Ernest Boakye
      Ernest Boakye 2 months ago +1

      @Hipbo96 Chelsea haven't been punished by FFP. Current charges are against Man City and Everton

    • Pramuza Insan BACKUP
      Pramuza Insan BACKUP 2 months ago

      @Ernest Boakye remember the tranfer ban during lampard manager era?

    • veryscarygoat
      veryscarygoat 2 months ago +2

      ​@Pramuza Insan BACKUP that wasn't for FFP that was for signing underage players

    • S Osman
      S Osman 2 months ago

      @veryscarygoat which is under Fifa Financial Play

  • LK King
    LK King 2 months ago +5

    Can you do a video on simon jordans crystal palace?

  • 4everAb0t69
    4everAb0t69 Month ago

    But did they really break it? Most if not all of Chelsea’s transfers seemed like panic buys to me!

    • Frank Reynolds
      Frank Reynolds Month ago

      Most of their summer signings were. Not winter ones.

  • Andre Thomas
    Andre Thomas 2 months ago +4

    Psg were actually at fault n tbh when a club owner is out with his advisor on deadline day to secure a £100+ million player couldn’t psg have thought this out bettr rather than get screws during the deadline day

  • Green Greeny
    Green Greeny 28 days ago

    This sounds really similar to the Derby video on how they went bankrupt.

  • ashley W
    ashley W 2 months ago +2

    Clearly GP plays football manager, we have been doing this for years to be able to spend billions

  • William Downs
    William Downs 2 months ago

    Those contracts for the players sound poor there agents should have done better. If they underperform they will get stitched up and turfed out. And in a league with lots of money and competition that could happen quite regularly.

    • daniel webb
      daniel webb 2 months ago

      Their contracts are guaranteed. Why would they accept turfed out for a pay cut? Winston Bogarde didn't

    • William Downs
      William Downs 2 months ago

      Even if they are guaranteed if they are not successful at chelsea then those contracts will hurt there chances of a fresh start elsewhere. Also with such long contracts no need to give them an improved wage just feels like they have been poorly adviced.

  • Yankpats
    Yankpats 2 months ago +1

    Welcome to American sport contracts. This is how the kings of profit bearing sports do things

  • Maverick
    Maverick Month ago

    Who were the 3 of these signings that were inscribed in Champions League?

  • Dan W
    Dan W Month ago

    It's not a great strategy to sign players like Mudryk (who is absolutely pony) on a seventeen year contract to dodge FFP.

  • Muhammad AH
    Muhammad AH 2 months ago

    5:25 this isn’t really a looohole, if happens in day to day life. Take an example with klarna the middle man. A customer purchases something for £100 but they use klarna and pay £50 as a deposit then pay £10 (not including fees) for the next 5 month however the company selling the goods will get the full £100.

  • manichispanic999
    manichispanic999 2 months ago

    whats sad is Ziyech started for chelsea a few days later after the loan failure

  • parmaman 85
    parmaman 85 2 months ago

    What's also clever by Boehly is that it's inflated the market for all the other teams in the summer. Bellingham last summer would have probably cost a bit under £100 million how that's gone up by at least 40 million.

  • Gift :D
    Gift :D 9 days ago

    Which club is he refering to in the orange when he mentions two clubs wanted Enzo? 1:29

  • Marius M
    Marius M Day ago

    Zyiech was left stranded in Paris with looking for somewhere to stay 😂😂😂😂😂, excuse me , was he stranded in the middle of north pole or Paris? This is hilarious and not in a good way 😂😂😂

  • Oscar Castro
    Oscar Castro Month ago

    I know this is just minor, but I'm at awe that a Puerto Rican is involved in this scale of business.

  • Jeezy McMeme
    Jeezy McMeme 2 months ago +1

    Superb content

  • marcelano ryadi
    marcelano ryadi 2 months ago

    I was shocked Jorginho was sold to Arsenal.
    But then we bought Enzo. So its a long term project

  • LebooZA
    LebooZA 2 months ago +2

    Damn Ziyach was done dirty

  • Duarte
    Duarte 2 months ago +2

    Benfica received the 120M € in full actually. Chelsea found a 3rd party "loan shark" who paid Benfica and that will be paid in installements by Chelsea, with interest. Good luck next season in Conference!

  • Dowel David
    Dowel David 2 months ago +1

    Enzo Fernandez very good player 💪🏿💪🏿👏⚽

  • Edwin Z
    Edwin Z 2 months ago

    They've just purchased ecuadorian forward 15 year old. Kendry Paez for 18mil.

  • JP Thomas
    JP Thomas 2 months ago +2

    Even with the trick of long contracts and amortization I'm still expecting to hear Chelsea getting penalized for FFP violations in the next few years

    • Ernest Boakye
      Ernest Boakye 2 months ago +1

      Like Man City and Everton?

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +2

      why? Chelsea aren't hiding anything and know exactly what they need to do to balance the books. They've been extremely smart about it which is why they don't breach FFP

    • RobtheMod
      RobtheMod 2 months ago

      More like Derby...

    • TompaLegend
      TompaLegend 2 months ago +1

      Salty?

    • JP Thomas
      JP Thomas 2 months ago

      @Hugh M It seems a reasonable bet to assume that a team that spent more money than 4 entire leagues combined in a single transfer window wasn't exactly following all the rules

  • Emerson Shaw
    Emerson Shaw 2 months ago +4

    How Chelsea broke the transfer market… again.

  • ondank
    ondank 2 months ago

    I have to say, I find it very frustrating that UEFA treats people applying the rules as written as a loophole.
    Chelsea, on several occasions, have found ways to operate within the framework of UEFA which don't conform to what UEFA think is fair. First, they essentially became a talent hub, purchasing young players, loaning them out, and then selling the ones for a profit who didn't make the cut. Many have criticised this approach, but some of the finest footballers of this generation (Salah, Lukaku, De Bryne, Courtouis) and plenty of other extremely good footballers (Tomori, Abraham, Thorgan Hazard, Romeu) have come through this process. And UEFA has tried to quash it.
    Now Chelsea are attempting to use a risky tactic of simply following the amortisation rule to its logical conclusions and again, UEFA gets angry. Because for some reason, the traditional contract length of 5 years is something that needs to be set forever in stone based on ... well nothing really.
    Its quite clear that UEFA wants its big name clubs at the top and it does not care at all about seeing competition take place, because if a tactic doesn't benefit the top dogs, they won't allow that tactic to continue.

    • Oh Hi Mark
      Oh Hi Mark Month ago

      Dude really thinks that this sort of throwing money strategy really helps competition in football.

  • OliverMorning
    OliverMorning 2 months ago +2

    that Ziech situation proves how unprofessional Chelsea is

    • Alex
      Alex 2 months ago

      yes exactly, i was wondering if anyone else was going to point this out. how pathetic to send an email with the wrong attachment, the kind of mistake an intern would make. boehly has no idea what he's doing. i see a glazers/man u kind of crisis unfolding...

    • OliverMorning
      OliverMorning 2 months ago

      @Alex exactly mate, too much focus is on these ridiculous signings which for does not deserve any praise to cheat based on a loop hole. So much for being a fair league i guess

    • Frank Reynolds
      Frank Reynolds Month ago

      @OliverMorning Why enquire at the last moment then.

  • tim james
    tim james Month ago

    The title suggests Chelsea have done something good. Instead they've overspent on just decent players and are stuck with these players for 8+ years even if they are massive flops

  • Kenny O'Brien
    Kenny O'Brien 2 months ago

    Why do all these 'accounting experts' not mention that amortisation over a longer period hinders future purchases because their net book value is not cleared after 4 years meaning they still carry that and future amortisation.

  • gotico gordo
    gotico gordo 2 months ago

    the premier league keep making portuguese clubs richier and richies ever season, I LOVE IT, they put themselves in a huge hole with the reckless expending, nonsensical amounts, good for the "smaller"clubs that take advantage

  • Bokang Reacts
    Bokang Reacts 2 months ago +3

    Chelsea fly to get their players and PSG sends a fax

  • David C
    David C 2 months ago +5

    3 years time. “Are Chelsea the new Leeds?”

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +7

      just like 3 years before that, and 3 years before that, and 3 years before that. etc...
      keep hoping though

    • kill3rb33
      kill3rb33 2 months ago

      Like like Chelsea will get liquidated last year? 😭😂

    • David C
      David C 2 months ago

      @Hugh M I’ve never thought it remotely possible until now.
      You’re right though I’m sure this approach that no other club has ever thought is a good idea will work out just fine for you.

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago

      @David C I'm sure the club will be just fine with an extra £60m a season on the books. Make far more in player sales every season. Thanks for your concern.

  • Drunken_Master
    Drunken_Master 2 months ago

    Chelsea's January 2023 transfer dealings represent one sure step towards administration.

  • Urban Larsson
    Urban Larsson Month ago

    Okey, so chelsea is doing what I have been doing since FM12.

  • Mr Get It In
    Mr Get It In 2 months ago +2

    Why hasn't this amortization "trick" been used before? Surely it's not because top accountants weren't aware of it

    • A A
      A A 2 months ago +3

      Abrahamovich cleared all debt, other clubs all have some debt already and 8 year contracts can be detrimental especially for unproven players on big wages (mudryk)

    • TPW
      TPW 2 months ago +4

      probably because of the huge risk of someone turning out to be a dud and being able to just sit on the books for 7 more years

    • Butlee
      Butlee 2 months ago

      Isn't this was Barcelona was doing?

    • h b
      h b 2 months ago +4

      It's because having contacts that long is absolutely stupid in football. Boehly doesn't understand how football works and is just trying to run Chelsea like an American sports franchise. A couple of years down the line this is going to be disastrous

    • ali ali
      ali ali 2 months ago

      because it can easily backfire and sink a club for a long time
      and don't call me Shirley

  • Hemanth
    Hemanth Month ago

    Mudryk for 100M?. Nahh they really broke the market

  • mamchi
    mamchi 2 months ago

    Still I am not impressed. Most of these players will not be elite talents. Also Enzo transfer is not a healthy way of doing it. Benfica bought the player 6 months ago for 12M Euros and after 6 months, you pay 120 for the player. This shows how the scouting is a fail and makes the club poor both financially and inwardly.

  • TidleyWinker
    TidleyWinker 2 months ago +1

    What us the risk of buying players using the 'amortisation trick'. Understand they may not perform to their expected level but what is the 'backfiring' risk?

    • Peelioka
      Peelioka 2 months ago

      The cost of their transfer is amortised through their accounts across the length of the players contact, so for example a £100m player over 8 years would add a cost of £12.5m to their costs for each of the next 8 years.
      There are a few risks with this method. By spreading the costs now it forces the club to continue doing so in the future as if they start recognising the transfer expenses over a shorter timeframe (as they'll have to with future transfers now d'you to the change in uefas rules) it makes the expense burden in future years higher whilst only benefiting in a reduced expense burden in the short term.
      When a player is sold you can recognise all of the income from the transfer in full. If you come to sell a player and they're still within the amortisation window you have to recognise the remaining cost of the asset disposal at the point of sale, if the player has dropped in value this could be hugely negative and essentially trap the player at the club. For example, a £100m sold 2 years in to their 8 year contract will still hold a value of £75m in the accounts. If that player is sold for £60m then rather than recognising £75m income, as you would with a player that's fully amortised, you instead have to recognise a £15m loss. As you'd likely want to buy a new player to replace the old player you can see how this will have a knock on effect for the transfer budget / ffp.
      Added to that risk, if you can't sell an underperforming player you'll have to tank their amortisation expense on top of any other expenses every year until their contract expires. In my example you end up absorbing that £12.5m expense on top of the players wages.
      Now, for one player that might not be too bad but Chelsea have done this with most of the players they bought this year. If more of them fail than succeed at the club then Chelsea are likely to struggle to make a profit in the future, it'll be in about 3-5 years time this will hurt them if things go wrong. They might have some serious FFP problems.

  • M. joe
    M. joe Month ago

    Todd & his cronies came to Chelsea to learn how to run a football club by spending over £500m in one season and that hasnt worked for them 1 bit....sooo from the £1.75bil over 10years comittment money, only £1.25bil ia left and theres 9years left😂😂.. soon they will realise that owning a football club isnt for kids & they will realise that when they start missing UCL year after year

  • Mr Lebowski
    Mr Lebowski 2 months ago +4

    Newcastles owners making these guys look like they have the business acumen of the local kids selling lemonade. If Chelsea don't improve soon it could be catastrophic.

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +3

      And you are basing this assertion on what exactly? Newcastle don't yet have the players to finish in the top 4. Chelsea do when they put it all together.
      You think they did all this without allowing for a season out of the champions league?

    • Stu0602 (Tony Tynebridge)
      Stu0602 (Tony Tynebridge) Month ago

      ​@Hugh M newcastle are 3rd

  • Sir Lee
    Sir Lee 2 months ago +13

    THE MIGHTY CHELSEA

  • Daniel Moreira
    Daniel Moreira 2 months ago

    Well now the next step is to fire Potter and hire a proper manager.

  • Terence L
    Terence L 26 days ago

    FIFA and UEFA not investigating them for bleach of FFP because their boss is American.

  • Gavin Little
    Gavin Little Month ago

    Armchair football expert should really look at some basic accounting. When you talk about cost and contract length you need to have a basic understanding that in accounting the cost of any asset is spread over a number of fiscal years, until its replacement. A player is a club asset and so the end of use is the end of the contract of that player.

  • paint sniffer
    paint sniffer 2 months ago +5

    not even a Chelsea fan but my prediction is they'll win ucl this year, y'all are not seeing the vision (this is gonna sound really dumb if they get eliminated by Real Madrid 😭)

    • F H
      F H 2 months ago

      They won't. Roman juju is gone and the current owner is a clown

  • Hassan
    Hassan 2 months ago +1

    You mean PSG didn't break the market when they signed Neymar?

  • Clueless
    Clueless 2 months ago +1

    as a arsenal fan im always salty over this topic 😅

  • Oliver Gall
    Oliver Gall 2 months ago +2

    Clubs like Man Utd, PSG and especially Man City needs to be limited within the market. The way they are inflating the prices for players who’ve barely proven themselves (Mudryk, Antony) is ruining the entire market, cause now clubs are demanding much more than the true value of their players

  • Eric 3peat
    Eric 3peat 2 months ago +1

    This isn’t a rebuild this is a mess

  • Human
    Human 2 months ago

    The Dodgers spend the equivalent of a small country's gdp every year and still can't win the World Series on a regular basis.
    This high spending by Chelsea will get them trophies, but it will not get them regular success. It's better to have a team that functions and makes sense than what Chelsea are building, there's no clear vision to what they're doing and it's hilarious.

  • Junaid Abrahams
    Junaid Abrahams 2 months ago

    PSG broke the market.. Chelsea broke the English record fee.. there's a difference lol

  • King F
    King F Month ago

    Chelsea want to sell players.
    Callum hudson on 150k a week
    Mr cheeks on 150k a week
    😂😂😂😂😂

  • HM Free mind
    HM Free mind 2 months ago +1

    It’s funny how everybody hopes these long contracts “backfire” because the players “may not perform” 😂 they’re elite or world-class players… some being very promising prospects. It’s a win-win

  • KHOO
    KHOO 18 days ago

    PSG broke the market with Neymar Chelsea just made it worst

  • Colin Colin
    Colin Colin 2 months ago +1

    Imagine Man City spent 600 million in a season. The world would be going crazy 😅

    • F H
      F H 2 months ago

      Uefa and the FA would start a petition to cease the club and its assets 😂

  • reborn agent
    reborn agent 2 months ago +2

    we need results rather than players--Chelsea fans

    • Hugh M
      Hugh M 2 months ago +1

      be patient. It's a long term plan. Good players will bring good results.

    • reborn agent
      reborn agent 2 months ago

      @Hugh M now they will bring results since he is gone

  • Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD

    Wouldn't be surprised if another FPP sanction gets placed against Chelsea once again. It just seems like they haven't learned and just threw money at multiple players without releasing others.

    • Quabena Monster
      Quabena Monster 2 months ago +1

      Learn mates🤝😹

    • Barney Wilson
      Barney Wilson 2 months ago +5

      did you watch the video?

    • BushidoCode
      BushidoCode 2 months ago

      Lol over your head

    • Gerald S
      Gerald S 2 months ago

      Boehly will prove himself to be clueless

    • Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD
      Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD 2 months ago +2

      @Barney Wilson yes I watched the video but the first time they got sanctioned they still where able to win trophies with Tuchel as there coach an also the sanction got cut sooner than people thought as fans believed they gonna go two more years without new transfers. Pfft