Part of the justifications for Chelsea’s obscene spending in the last 18 months was that it made sense to get all of their buying done while the club were not in European competition.
UEFA rules are stricter on spending than the Premier League, and they had also closed the long contract loophole that Chelsea’s owners loved using. So it made sense to swallow big losses while not on UEFA’s radar.
But it’s led to a funny situation, as explained in Liam Twomey’s piece for the Athletic here.
Should Chelsea qualify for the UEFA Conference League by winning the Carabao Cup on Sunday, they will be back in Europe, and find their spending taking them right up to the limits. They would then have to pay most of the squad major bonuses for their achievements, as well as taking on the cost of playing in what is effectively a loss making competition for big clubs, when you consider the costs of playing in Europe compared to the modest crowds against modest teams.
Chelsea could in fact accidentally break their own spending limits by getting in to Europe rather than missing out.
