Tactics and Transfers: Frank, COVID economics and the Bank of Chelsea
The Blues should operate like a bank does with mortgages and loans
Rather than asking for £30 million for Alonso at the moment, and not getting a deal done because clubs can’t pay that much up front, Chelsea should make deals as follows: £4 million a season for the next 10 seasons and you can pay in £2 million installments twice a year and put off the first payment for 12 months. Then, during that time, the Blues maintain the right to match bids for players the club is selling with a first buy option. Essentially, Chelsea gives the buyer the player in advance and gets their wages off the books, their car out of the lot and their seat open in the dressing room. All while Chelsea collects some interest on a £30 million player by exploiting the desperation of the other sides, while still benefiting the club and the Bank of Roman-Chelsea.
Chelsea benefits in the near-term financially and competitively, and we make up the money in the long-term. Further, the Blues maintain an element of leverage over that club, should they want to negotiate for a player like Joao Felix or Jose Gimenez in future.
They could do deals like that for Emerson, Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Danny Drinkwater, Ross Barkley and Jorginho with near immediate effect if they wanted to. Then they’d end up having somewhere near a recurring £10 million of incoming balance every six months. All while freeing up somewhere near £700k a week or roughly £36 million a season in salary space. That would serve as a useful bit of income for FFP in future when balancing the books with amortized value considerations taken into account.
That is how Chelsea should think financially moving forward. The Blues need to find a way to benefit themselves in the current climate. They’d make money, gain leverage and solidify themselves at the top of the game. There are opportunities to be had during this time and Chelsea must work harder to make the most of them through creative financial dealmaking.
It’s good to be back.