REVEALED: Chelsea in FFP trouble amid Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia transfers as the Blues FFP myth busted

Chelsea in FFP trouble amid Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia transfers as the Blues FFP myth busted

Manchester City’s former financial advisor Stefan Borson has weighed in on Chelsea’s big spending under co-owner Todd Boehly amid concern over the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules.

Moises Caicedo arrived at Stamford Bridge for a British record fee of £115 million from Brighton on an eight-year contract on Monday and is the seventh player to join Mauricio Pochettino’s ranks in this transfer window – leaving many to suggest that it’s impossible for the club not to be breaching FFP regulations.

With the imminent arrival of Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, as well as Crystal Palace star Michael Olise and young striker Deivid Washington from Santos, some are taking a keen interest into how it’s possible for Boehly and company to keep pumping money into the market without repercussions.

“You’re talking about a club that’s never made a profit in 20 years,” Borson told talkSPORT earlier this week. “They have historically operated at a loss and filled that gap by selling footballers.

“Then what’s happened is Todd Boehly’s come along and I just want to say very clearly [he] knows exactly what he’s doing. Nobody would deny the quality of his team, of the individual. There’s no question.

“There’s nothing that any of us can say on the outside that they haven’t thought about and that’s why I posit that this is all part of a strategy.”

Borson added: “Wealthy people sometimes make mistakes and he’s made a mistake in terms of what he paid for the club. He now wants to accelerate the success of the club.”

With 17 players leaving the club over the summer via a myriad of ways including loan moves, full sales and free transfers after expired contracts, a huge amount has actually been freed up not only in terms of spending power but also on the club’s wage bill.

Kai Havertz and Mason Mount both leaving for a combined £120m means that the Blues only had to spend around £10m to land Caicedo and other outgoings like Mateo Kovacic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Christian Pulisic – all for over £20m – means that a lot of spare cash has been put back into the squad.

Boehly, who now co-owns Chelsea after last year’s takeover from previous owner Roman Abramovich, has previous experience in the world of sporting business, given he’s the co-owner of one of baseball’s biggest and best sides – the Los Angeles Dodgers.

And his introduction of amortisation – the process of spreading out the cost of a player over the length of their contract – into Chelsea’s spending strategy has meant that the club is actually toeing the line instead of breaking the rules according to former Crystal Palace owner and now talkSPORT host Simon Jordan.

“Here’s what he’s actually doing,” Jordan said. “They’ve spent something like £800m on players, £600m of that was last season. They’ll be capitalising that over eight years, all of those players were on eight-year contracts. So all of that £600m is spreading out at a cost of £75m per season. You’re charging £75m because you’re dividing £600m by eight.

“So this year’s spend will be around about £300m and charging at £60m per season. So he’s now losing £135m per year.

“But he’s just gone and sold £250m worth of players in three transfer windows! He sold Kai Havertz for £60m, and while he bought him for £60m, at the time on his balance sheet he was only carrying him for £25m so he’s booked a £35m profit.

“He’s sold Mason Mount and academy player for £60 – that’s £60m profit. So over the last three seasons, he’s booked somewhere around £200m in transfer gains on his balance sheet. So he’s £65m in credit right now! That’s how he’s doing it.

“Now if they don’t start getting results on the pitch, it’s going to start catching up with him sooner or later. But right now, £800m worth of spend, it equates to £135m per season worth of losses and then £200m worth of gains. So he’s up £65m.

“The consequence of breaking FFP rules is a financial consequence. Are we suggesting that people who have paid £2.5B for a business won’t take a smack on the knuckles like other clubs are taking? I’m not suggesting he’s aiming for that but he’s covered all their losses with gains.”

Boehly’s side are reportedly looking to secure the transfer of Lavia this week before they face West Ham at the London Stadium this weekend after their 1-1 draw against Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season.