Chelsea told to sell 3 homegrown players for massive fee to avoid FFP punishment
Football finance expert Stefan Borson addressed Chelsea's reported need to sell players before the June 30, 2024, deadline to avoid Financial Fair Play (FFP) sanctions from the Premier League.
The Blues have splurged on several new players since the club changed owners from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to BlueCo (a consortium led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjörg Wyss).
In light of penalties imposed upon Everton and Nottingham Forest, Borson gave his take on Chelsea's situation. He believes the Blues need to generate sales of pure profit (selling home-grown players) for an amount worth £110 million (via Metro).
Borson told Talk SPORT (via Metro):
"Really, they have to find buyers for Trevoh Chalobah for £20m, Armando Broja for £40m, and Conor Gallagher for £50m. It’s those sort of deals that need to be done. And by the way, they all need to be done by June 30. That, as we know, is articulated within the Forest decision."
He added:
"There’s a whole conversation about how hard it is to sell players in the period before June. The Premier League actually suggested that more or less that it was impossible."
The FFP rules for the Premier League allow clubs to incur a maximum loss of £105 million across three seasons, as per Metro.
Chelsea's sale of Mason Mount will not count for this season's profit, as per Borson
The football finance expert had more bad news for Chelsea fans after he detailed why the sale of Mason Mount to Manchester United last summer will not be accounted for in this season's finance forecast for the Blues.
Mount was a homegrown player sold to the Red Devils last summer for a reported fee of £55 million. As per Borson, the earlier assumption that Mount's fee would account for pure profit this season is wrong, as his deal was slotted into the finances for the 2022-23 campaign.
Borson told Talk SPORT (via Metro):
"There was an assumption with Mason Mount, because he was announced on Manchester United’s website on July 1 that [his sale] had been put into this current season. So the £55m of profit was in this season. It now transpires that Mason Mount appears to have been transacted in 2022/23 and that is how they got through."
Predicting Chelsea's sanctions for failing to meet the Premier League's FFP will be more severe than the ones faced by Nottingham Forest and Everton, Borson said:
"I think the scale of the losses they’re currently forecasting, to me, appear to be vastly in excess of both Everton and Nottingham Forest."
He added (about Chelsea's potential sanction):
"Possibly more severe."
Everton were initially deducted 10 points from their current campaign, which was then reduced to six, after an appeal. Forest has been deducted four points from the current season's PL table.