(Football news) UEFA is set to change it’s Financial Fair Play regulations after observing Chelsea FC’s transfer policy of awarding long term contracts to new players, thereby circumnavigating the existing FFP rules. By giving long term contracts, Chelsea can spread the player’s transfer fee over the life of that deal when submitting their annual accounts which means £89m paid for new signing Mykhailo Mudryk will be valued at just £11m a year, spread over his eight-and-a-half-year contract. UEFA will change the rules to ensure that the transfer fee cannot be spread longer than a five year period.

While football clubs in England are free to offer longer deals as per UK regulations, they will not be able to spread the transfer fee over the first five years. The rule change by UEFA will be enforced in the summer, which means Chelsea’s existing deals are valid as they were done before the changes were made. The Blues signed Benoit Badiashile and David Datro Fofana on six and a half year deals while Noni Madueke joined on a seven-and-a-half year contract. Wesley Fofana signed a seven year contract while left back Marc Cucurella joined on a six-year contract last summer. Raheem Sterling is also on a five year contract.

Under Todd Boehly’s ownership, Chelsea have spent an estimated £450m, which would not have been possible if they didn’t circumnavigate the Financial Fair Play rules. The Blues are expected to not just adhere to UEFA’s FFP regulations, they are also expected to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. According to UEFA, clubs can spend up to 5m euros (£4.4m) more than they earn over a three-year period. They can exceed this level to a limit of 30m euros (£26.6m) if it is entirely covered by the club’s owner. Failure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules could result in warnings, fines and also loss of European titles.

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