You will hear all the news circulating today about a new Premier League ruling after the clubs voted on it.
I’ve seen a lot of “big blows” in Chelsea reports since this news broke, but I actually don’t think it’s a big blow at all.
Premier League clubs have voted to limit the amortization of new contracts to a maximum of five years. The agreements may still last longer, but the amortization does not.
This means that Chelsea, who previously signed players on long contracts in order to amortize the fee and avoid FFP rules with a clever loophole, will no longer be able to do so at least in the amortization sense.
Personally, for what Chelsea need now, here and now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. It means maybe we should look for players on shorter contracts to give this team what it needs now: proven leaders rather than players for the future.
The Chelsea team is very talented and has very good prospects, but these players are raw and there is no guarantee that they will succeed at Chelsea. Some will, some won’t.
Mauricio Pochettino needs more experience and leadership in this team, so I hope this forces us to change our tact slightly at least in the January transfer window and bring in, say, Ivan Toney, who I think ticks all the boxes for what we need right now.
Chelsea need more players who can make an instant impact and come in and make a difference now, so hopefully this means we won’t be so strict with the age groups we target.