Chelsea cannot afford the fallout from Alexis Sanchez’s contract demands

Chelsea need many things this January transfer window and Alexis Sanchez fits many of those bills. However, the terms he is supposedly demanding would cause irrevocable harm to the club, well in excess of the value he would bring.

Manchester City’s public relations team poured gasoline on the Alexis Sanchez transfer rumour fire Monday evening. “Sources” at the club leaked (ahem) that City are no longer in the hunt for Sanchez, in part because of Chelsea’s role in driving up his price. By City’s telling via their friendly Manchester Evening News reporters, Chelsea and Manchester United are the last two standing in a classic transfer window money fight.

This came as big (fake) news to anyone who follows Chelsea. Perhaps City are simply trolling their cross-town rival. Maybe they are doing Arsenal a favour. Because the only real impact of the rumour – to whatever extent people believe it – is to raise Sanchez’s transfer fee.

If the only issue was Alexis Sanchez’s transfer fee, Chelsea would have no problem meeting that demand and no excuse to do otherwise. Sanchez’s fee will be far less than it would have been over the summer, well below his true market value and comparable to what Chelsea have paid for less talented and impactful players. Even the usual element of inflation in a January transfer window does not apply, since he is out of contract in June.

However, Sanchez is reportedly demanding £350,000 per week. In financial terms completely devoid of context, Stamford Bridge could handle that. But Thibaut Courtois is on £100,000 per week, and expects Chelsea to double that if they are serious about keeping him. That would bring Courtois up to Eden Hazard’s current level of £200,000 per week, which Chelsea must greatly increase if they are to keep the other Belgian from answering a call from Madrid.

By performance, potential and meaning to the club, Eden Hazard must be Chelsea’s highest-paid player. Thibaut Courtois can benchmark his wages off of Hazard’s, given the impossibility of replacing him with anyone at a skill level. So if the Blues assent to paying Sanchez £350,000 per week, they have to pay Hazard at least £400,000, which in turn brings Courtois towards the mid-£200’s.

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Three players, nearly a million pounds per week. Either that, or Chelsea gain Alexis Sanchez at the expense of Eden Hazard and / or Thibaut Courtois.

And much like transfer fees, wages do not increase in isolation. Once Sanchez inflates the ceiling for Hazard and Courtois, everyone else will demand a proportional increase.

Beyond the weekly expense Sanchez would impose, he would also force Chelsea to reverse course on their usual handling of players over 30. Sanchez is 29, and at £350,000 per week will likely demand a three-year contract with clauses for multi-year renewals. The latter would particularly pin down the Blues, as his resale value at 32 would come nowhere close to covering his costs.

Normally the Blues put players his age on the annual renewal program. Sanchez would step into a situation that Blues legends like John Terry and Ashley Cole wanted but did not receive: a multi-year twilight contract.

Sanchez is a strong player but is not world-class, let alone legendary. He has no place in the hearts of Stamford Bridge. His role at Chelsea over the next few years would be the same as any other high-performing role player. Yet he would enter the club with something that players whose names still echo around Stamford Bridge never had. That is a recipe for resentment, lost favour and distrust by current and former players and the fans. And that is all on the positive assumption he performs to expectations.

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Alexis Sanchez is, in many ways, Chelsea’s perfect transfer target. But his arrival could trigger a series of events that will cost Chelsea far more than he – or any one player – could justify with a few years of performance. If Chelsea can convince him to agree to lower, sub-Hazard wages they should sign him. Any more than that and they should let him trade one red kit for another.