Why Chelsea owe Italian club £8m and how it could affect their manager search

The funny thing about being a football fan is that, despite reading a plethora of rumours and speculation every day, you get very little concrete detail on what actually goes on – even once it’s happened.

Transfers are a great example – we report all year round on rumours, but even once the deal is done, the fee remains a secret between the two clubs, often tied up with bonuses and clauses these days. A player’s cost is never their true cost, when everything is factored in.

Chelsea are now looking like they will lose their manager Maurizio Sarri to Juventus, and while we won’t get a transfer fee, we should be expecting them to buy out the remaining time on his contract at least. That would be a consolation, but better than nothing.

The problem is that according to the Daily Mail, we still owe the Italian side £8m from the Gonzalo Higuain loan deal (which seems a ripoff by anyone’s standards). That means that any cash we would get for our erstwhile boss is actually just going to be swallowed up by the debts we owe them.

Yet another reason why loaning Higuain – who let’s not forget was a Sarri choice – was a disaster, and a costly one at that too.

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