Since Financial Fair Play rules were agreed in 2009 Chelsea have prepared for it and are now set for the long term after the rules were introduced in 2011.
Our business this window shows just how clever Jose Mourinho and the board are. We have a net spend of just £2.5m, but somehow managed to bring in Diego Costa, a top class forward, Cesc Fabregas, a maestro in midfield and Filipe Luis, last term’s best left back in the world.
Mourinho identified the weaknesses in our squad early, and the board acted with minimal fuss and brought the targets to the club. This not only shows me the trust Mourinho has earned with the board but also that they have learnt their lessons from times gone by.
This brings me to our loan policy. Chelsea currently have twenty-six individual players out on loan in eight different European countries including England, Germany and Italy. This is an ideal way of making a profit on most of the players, but also a handful are expected to be in the first team in the years to come, namely Nathaniel Chalobah, Patrick Bamford, Bertrand Traore, Tomas Kalas and Marco van Ginkel.
I would like to add that our current biggest footballing rivals Manchester City have five players out on loan.
Products of our youth academy Patrick van Aanholt and George Saville were sold this summer for around £4m. That is a profit on its own, but they would be sold for much less if they hadn’t have been sent out on loan.
Chelsea have also used the loan system in a different way this season, sending deadweight Fernando Torres to AC Milan to get off paying his ÂŁ175,000 per week. We have seen this in the past with Michael Essien and Yossi Benayoun. This is a clever move and will save the Blues a lot of money over the two years.
Don’t expect every player Chelsea have loaned to make it at the club, but on pure averages a few are bound to.
Which players on loan do you expect to make it at Chelsea?Â
