Chelsea has long stood by the 30 plus one contract rule. But the transfer ban has forced the Blues into breaking it in ways previously unthinkable.
Chelsea held firm to their 30 plus one contract rule in every circumstance. The club’s greatest ever striker, days after scoring the winning penalty in the Champions League, announced his departure after having only been offered one more year. The club’s greatest ever midfielder found himself in a similar situation before departing for City Football Group’s branches either side of the Atlantic. And the club’s greatest ever captain played the one year extension game for years before ultimately departing for Birmingham.
If legends such as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, and John Terry could not break the rule, then seemingly no one could. But the transfer ban changed things. The club, fearful of losing David Luiz during the ban, caved and offered the Brazilian a two year extension.
Where the legends had failed, Luiz had succeeded. That appears to have opened Pandora’s Box. Fellow Brazilian Willian, who is entering the last year of his contract, is now heavily rumored to have a two year extension coming this summer. The box is opened and the 30 plus one rule is dead.
Again, the ban plays a large part in this situation. Had Chelsea been able to buy this summer, Luiz would have been allowed to depart. But because the Blues cannot buy, Luiz had the bargaining power to force the rule break. And once broken by the rule maker, it is very hard to enforce the rule in the future. Hence, Willian preparing for two more years at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea will have wanted to know they had players they could count on in the next season. But it made little sense for Luiz given how many center backs Chelsea has in the pipeline. The loan army is full of promising center backs that could have followed in behind the likes of Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, and Kurt Zouma. Now they find their path blocked by the Brazilian.
Willian’s makes somewhat more sense. With a year left and interest from other club’s in previous windows, Chelsea needed something to keep him around. Furthermore, the depth that exists at center back is simply absent on the wing. Callum Hudson-Odoi is injured, Christian Pulisic will be new to the league, and Pedro will face a dip due to his aging legs. Chelsea lacks wingers of quality in the loan army and there are no clear options coming out of the academy. Luiz’s extension fed into Willian’s, but Willian was always needed to stay through the ban.
The question after that will be who else can start to expect a two year extension. Can Willy Caballero or Olivier Giroud expect a two year extension down the line? Will the club be able to revert back to the 30 plus one rule now that the Pandora’s Box has been opened?
And perhaps most importantly of all, how different would the last few years at Chelsea had been had legends been offered a more stable two year contract over the uncertainty of one year?