Chelsea are continuing to spend at a rate even Roman Abramovich might have considered excessive.
Last weekend they paid a British record £115m for Brighton’s Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo who had also been a target for Liverpool. They have followed up by buying Belgium midfielder Romeo Lavia from Southampton for £55m and France under-21 winger Michael Olise for £35m from Crystal Palace.
The arrival of Lavia, 19, and Olise, 21, has taken Chelsea’s net spending to £631m since the takeover by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium in May 2022. They also plan to sign a goalkeeper before the deadline after loaning Kepa Arrizbalaga to Real Madrid.
Lavia, who had also been wanted by Liverpool, has been pursued by Chelsea since last year when he joined Southampton for ‘only’ £14m from Manchester City. Now he could eventually cost Chelsea up to £60m including add-ons. Liverpool, increasingly desperate to fill their midfield gaps, have seen offers for both Caicedo and Lavia accepted before being outbid by Chelsea.
Olise, born in west London, had been considered by City as a replacement for Riyad Mahrez but preferred a move to west London. He had been a youth player at Chelsea before joining Reading, who sold him for £8m to Palace in 2021. A leg muscle injury means he will have to wait several weeks before making his Chelsea debut.
Chelsea are playing a clever game within the constraints of the different financial fair play demands of UEFA and the Premier League.
Last month Chelsea paid UEFA a €10m settlement for having “submitting incomplete financial information” during the Abramovich era. However they are not bound currently by UEFA rules because they did not quality for a European competition after finishing 12th last season.
The Premier League permits maximum losses of £105m over a three-year period. However Chelsea capitalise on the accountancy trick allowing transfer spending to be spread out over the length of a contract. This is the reason Chelsea agreed eight-year contracts with stars such as Caicedo and Argentina’s World Cup-winner Enzo Fernandez.
Chelsea have also offloaded big earners, such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who was on £150,000-a-week, and brought in players on lower wages. They have sold players for £250m in the past three windows.
UEFA has closed the ‘amortisation’ loophole by permitting fees to be spread over a maximum of only five years but the Premier League has not followed suit.
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