In the wake of the Financial Fair Play regulations recently imposed by UEFA, fans of Chelsea FC have seen a shift in the club’s transfer policy. They have seen the club sell off fan favorites like David Luiz and Juan Mata in order to fund moves for summer signings like Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. Manager Jose Mourinho told Eurosport that this policy is exactly how Chelsea will conduct their transfer business from now on.
Mourinho was asked about whether or not Chelsea could match Manchester United’s bid for Angel Di Maria and said: “Chelsea not, for sure, because Chelsea is working in relation to the Financial Fair Play. We are making money to be able to spend money. In every transfer window Chelsea is losing players, is selling players. In the winter one we sold Mata; in the summer one we sold David Luiz and Lukaku. So Chelsea in this moment is not a spender – Chelsea in this moment is making more money in transfers than the money we spend.”
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The manager has been given a tremendous amount of credit this summer for turning bench players like Mata and Luiz in to starters and world class players like Costa and Fabregas. He sold off players that did not buy in to his philosophy like Romelu Lukaku and managed to still strengthen his squad and add depth to it. It may or not be a consequence of FFP but the club is certainly meeting the regulations.
Mourinho spoke about FFP and said: “When UEFA decided for Financial Fair Play they were trying to do this to make every team (have) equal possibilities. But the reality is that the big teams, the big clubs, the clubs with more years at the top with more fan base around the world, with more income, are the players that keep being the big spenders.
“So Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Manchester [United] – all these huge teams, I think they have an advantage. But at Chelsea we are so happy with the way we are doing things, with this great balance between the income and the money we can spend. “We are so happy with that profile of club we are, we don’t want to change.”
While Chelsea are indeed one of the biggest clubs in the world, they are not on the same level in terms of revenue as the clubs Mourinho mentioned above. The sponsorship deals and shirt sales that clubs like Real Madrid and United receive are in another stratosphere compared to Chelsea but that can be overcome.
What Chelsea has opted to do is to turn its academy in to a moneymaker and focus on purchasing young talent, developing them through loans, and then selling them off to fund moves for other players. They bought low on players like Mata and Lukaku, raised their profile, then sold them for double or triple their initial price.
That same policy is being applied to younger players who may never see the Chelsea first team but will instead be used to balance the club’s books and keep them in line with FFP regulations. This is the new reality of world football and Chelsea as usual is ahead of the curve.
Source: Eurosport
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