UEFA are taking immediate action to amend Financial Fair Play rules in reaction to Chelsea’s January spending spree.
Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have been signing players to unusually long contracts – 7 or 8 years, some with unilateral extension options included – in order to spread their transfer fee over a longer period for FFP purposes.
It’s still a gamble for Chelsea, who will be tied to these long deals, but it allows them to spend more at once, at least in the short term.
Uefa is planning to impose a five-year maximum length of time over which a player’s transfer fee can be spread. The change would close the loophole around financial fair play that Chelsea used through Mykhailo Mudryk's 8½-year dealhttps://t.co/x6OfXmNdXo
— Times Sport (@TimesSport) January 23, 2023
It should be noted however, that this just effects how many years of the transfer would be taken into account for FFP. They’re not trying to stop long contracts, just teams spreading their spending out over deals beyond 5 years.
In any case, it’s too late to stop Chelsea, who have ripped through what should be a lot of their spending for the next few years in the last 8 months.
