Simon Jordan explains how Chelsea haven't broken FFP rules | OneFootball

With the recent acquisition of Moises Caicedo, Chelsea's transfer spending since the arrival of Todd Boehly in 2022 has now reached an astonishing £900m. That's right, despite the American taking over at Stamford Bridge in May 2022, just 15 months ago, the club has spent close to a billion.The big-money deals for the likes of Raheem Sterling and Wesley Fofana got things off to a wild start, and the Blues have since broken the Premier League's transfer record on two separate occasions, with Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo the two most expensive signings in the league's history.The money the London club has spent is unheard of, and no one has splashed the cash to this extent, so naturally, fans have started to question the legality of the spending, and whether Chelsea have just become immune to Financial Fair Play (FFP), but according to Simon Jordan of TalkSport, they haven't broken any rules whatsoever, and he explained how.

What did Simon Jordan say about Chelsea's spending?

According to the TalkSport presenter, Chelsea have managed to avoid coming under fire with FFP due to a number of reasons, with the first being a loophole that has seen the side stretch a number of their transfer deals over prolonged periods of time.

With a number of players last summer being signed to eight-year deals, the money spent on the transfers, an eye-watering £600m was stretched out over the course of the eight years, meaning the club has actually spent very little in the eyes of FFP right now.

Speaking on TalkSport, Jordan said: "Here’s what’s happening with their transfer. I think they’ll struggle to do it in a longer game until they start getting some achievements on the pitch, but here’s where they really are.

“They’ve spent £800million on players, they’ve spent £600million last year and capitalised that over eight years because all of those players were on eight-year contracts, so all of a sudden that £600million spend is averaging at £75million per year because you’re dividing £600million by eight."

The higher-ups didn't quite like how he'd danced around the rules, though, and quickly put a stop to that sort of deal. This summer he's instead spent £300m, with the transfers stretched out over the course of shorter, five years contracts. Jordan explained, saying: "He’s now had that changed because the football fraternity has said ‘you can’t do that over eight years’, so they’ve rolled it back to five years.

"This year’s spend will be £300million, or round about that, and that’ll be reducing to £60million per year – so he’s now losing £75million each year for last year’s spend, plus £60million this year."

Due to the nature of the deals, Chelsea are instead spending £135m a year on the players, which somehow sees the club making a profit when looking at the nature of the outgoing deals they've struck up. Since Boehly arrived, the Blues have raised over £200m in player sales, with Kai Havertz and Mason Mount leaving for a combined total of just over £120m.

"He’s gone and sold £250million worth of players in three transfer windows and all of those players have deduced an outcome that is profitable to Chelsea," Jordan said.

"He sold Kai Havertz for £60-odd-million after he bought him for £60million, but on his balance sheet at the time he sold Havertz he was carrying him at £25million, so he sold him at £60million and booked a £35million profit.

"He sold Mason Mount who is an academy player for £60million, so he’s booked a £60million profit, so over the three windows he’s booked somewhere in the region of £200million worth of transfer gains on his balance sheet, and he’s reducing it by £135million every year, so he’s £65million in credit right now on his balance sheet in terms of transfers. That’s how he’s doing it."

The method is a huge gamble on Chelsea's future

While Chelsea have no problems splashing the cash right now, with Boehly's method allowing them to spend big and spread the money out over a prolonged period of time, Jordan also revealed that the moves are a huge gamble on the club's future, with success a necessity for them to keep their finances at a level that would keep them within the FFP guidelines and avoid serious punishment.

When discussing the situation, he said: "Eventually, if Chelsea don't pull up revenue and start to get back into the Champions League or generate other revenue streams, this is going to catch up with him (Boehly) sooner rather than later.

"It's a gamble in terms of the consequences around Financial Fair Play."

The business is almost as though the American is spending big and worrying about the repercussions later, but it's vital that Chelsea start to repay him on the pitch, and the huge amounts of money spent lead to success, otherwise things could get ugly in the future.

How have Chelsea spent £900m since Todd Boehly took over?

Following Boehly's arrival at Stamford Bridge, no one has spent more money in the world than Chelsea, with the club's transfer activity quickly closing in on a billion pounds spent.

The club have signed a variety of different players, with hot prospects joining, as well as aged veterans, and they've seen varying levels of success since arriving.

The first name to make a move to Chelsea under the Boehly regime was Raheem Sterling who joined the side from Premier League rivals Manchester City for £47.5m. The deal felt like a guaranteed success, with the Englishman already having bags of experience in England's top flight and a proven track record. It wasn't quite as fruitful as they'd have hoped, though, with the 28-year-old failing to score in double digits for the first time in a decade.

Since then, some of the biggest deals have seen the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly (£35m), a resounding disaster, Marc Cucurella (£62m), Wesley Fofana (£75m), Mykhailo Mudryk (£88m), Enzo Fernandez (£110m), Christopher Nkunku (£56m) and now Moises Caicedo (£115m) all arrive at Stamford Bridge.

How did they make so much money on outgoing sales?

As Jordan said, one thing that's helping Chelsea continue to spend at the level in which they are is the amount of money they've generated from player sales over the last 18 months.

Having sold some major names, the side has raised over £250m on outgoings. Some of the stars to depart include Timo Werner (£25m), Havertz (£65m), Mount (£55m), Mateo Kovacic (£25m) and Christian Pulisic (£20m).

Considering the money being thrown about throughout football these days, some of these deals actually look a little cheap in comparison to what other players are going for in the market, but the accumulated amount is a fairly large chunk and has helped Chelsea continue to act within the constraints of FFP.

After a rough first season under Boehly, which saw the Blues finish a disastrous 12th in the Premier League, the club will be hoping to bounce back in a major way this year, and with a midfield pairing of Fernandez and Caicedo costing over £220m, it would be unacceptable for the side to be anything less than impressive.