FIFA’s got 99 problems (at least), but Chelsea’s loan policy is not one
By George Perry
In the greatest failure of self-awareness since Jose Mourinho berated Antonio Conte about touchline celebrations, FIFA passive-aggressively called out Chelsea over transparency and fair dealings. Yes, that FIFA.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino resorted to the interview equivalent of a subtweet to criticize Chelsea’s use of the loan system. Without mentioning Chelsea by name or wielding anything firmer than innuendo, Infantino put clubs worldwide on notice over transfer and loan business.
Infantino cast clubs in disrepute for following existing rules and responding to incentives. A lawyer by trade, he turned to his feelings and intuition to discuss multi-million pound business.
"I believe it is not right but it is permitted. It doesn’t feel right, for a club to just hoard the best young players and then to park them left and right, it’s not good for the development of the player, it’s not good for the club itself… [W]e have to work on squad size limits. – Reuters"
In other words: Nice development pipeline you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to it.
Infantino’s mandate upon taking office is to clean up the massive, systemic corruption that defined FIFA under Sepp Blatter. From money-laundering and bribery to officials treating themselves to lavish perks, FIFA was a racketeering syndicate as much as a football governing body.
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Individual clubs – no matter how rich and influential – should be the least of Infantino’s concerns. Infantino needs to put FIFA’s house in order before he dictates policy at the organization’s lowest structural level. Infantino should resolve matters with the United States Department of Justice before he frets over the latest half-baked negotiation between Michael Emenalo and Max Eberl.
Chelsea took Infantino’s criticism in stride. During Antonio Conte’s pre-match press conference the club’s press representative invited Infantino for a visit to Cobham.
"If his comments are directed our way, it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how our loan strategy works because it has player development at its core. We would welcome him paying us a visit so we can show how our system works. – Sporting News"
Disputes and policy matters between clubs should be handled by the national association or the regional associations involved. The FA, UEFA and their counterparts around the world exist for these purposes. Gianni Infantino is attempting a Bill Lumbergh-esque level of micromanagement.
Infantino may be doing nothing more than virtue-signalling with these statements. At the most benign level, he is merely – clumsily – saying “Think of the children!”
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Another possibility is that this is his way of showing that he is the new sheriff in town. By slapping around a few associations and bringing Roman Abramovich to heel, he burnishes his credentials as a get-things-done enforcer.
The most worrying option is that he simply does not understand the depth and scale of his task at FIFA. He may honestly believe that his priorities lie in regulating club-to-club business. That will allow FIFA to continue to drift, grift and graft along as it has for decades. At least until the next mega-scandal hits. This would be welcome news to any FIFA free-loader who survived the post-Blatter purge.
As both of our regular readers know, we are usually first in line to criticize Chelsea’s loan policy (although Victor Moses and Nathaniel Chalobah are proving a welcome counter-example). However, FIFA is not the one to impose changes on Chelsea or any other club for how they do business. If FIFA’s hypocrisy is not disqualifying, their poor management sense surely is.