The Chelsea ownership took over the club, sold off most of the first team and spent a lot to replace them.
They still positioned it as a long term smart move financially however. Their logic being that by bringing in new players on long contract with low wages, they would drastically lower their salary output.
It’s all well and good in theory. But it’s not like other teams haven’t thought of that before. The issue is that once a player starts playing well above their salary level, they’re not going to be happy. They’re immediately going to demand more money. Before you know it, you’re right back where you started with a major wage bill, just with a billion having been spent on a new squad.
That’s the fear with players like Cole Palmer, who is on just £80,000 a week right now. How long is he going to be happy on a quarter of the wages that teammate Raheem Sterling is on? Not long.
Chelsea’s Palmer escalator
Matt Law’s piece today in the Daily Telegraph explains what the plan with Palmer is – and by extension the plan for anyone else who excels like the attacking midfielder has.
Chelsea “will reward Palmer with incremental wage rises to better reflect his importance and performances, although the expectation is that these will remain private,”
“Rather than announce a new deal for Palmer, Chelsea are more likely to privately adjust the salary in his current contract as a way of rewarding him.”
Again, it’s a nice idea in theory, but it’s not necessarily going to work as well in practice. “Congratulations Cole, you saved our season and now you’re on £90,000 a week” is not going to sound great, is it?
We’re fascinated to see how this all ends up.
