If you thought that Chelsea’s season was coming down to our FA Cup final and our final leagues games of the season to establish whether we’ll be getting into Europe, you’re wrong.
It will in fact be coming down to June 30th, the day which represents the cut off between this season and next season for the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). We can still escape without punishment for our prodigious spending in the last 2 years, but only if we make major sales before then.
There are a number of players likely to be shunted out of the door as soon as possible once the actual games end. Ian Maatsen will be sold off, as will Romelu Lukaku if we can find a bidder.
One other sale considered a “sure thing” is that of Lewis Hall, as he is on loan with a purchase clause that will be activated once Newcastle guarantee they are finishing above 15th.
But there is an interesting – and not very positive – wrinkle in all this for Chelsea, as revealed by journalist Ben Jacobs, who is well connected and well versed on our finances.
His words on a Newcastle podcast revealed that this whole setup was arranged very much in the Magpies’ favour:
“The other thing I’m told which is quite interesting in this is that Newcastle may have structured the deal to actually receive the player now but pay after the PSR cut-off, which would be far, far, far more beneficial for Newcastle than it would be for Chelsea.”
We struggle to believe this is true – it felt like the whole Hall sale was arranged in order to help us meet PSR regulations. Why on earth would Chelsea sanction the sale if they knew it wouldn’t even help them with their major issue this summer?
There simply has to be more to it than this.
When they move the cash and when the sale is “scored” on our accounts could be two different things. And the latter makes all the difference for financial fair play, whereas the former does not.