Premier League clubs have voted in favour of limiting amortisation of transfer fees to five years, in a blow to the transfer policy adopted by the Todd Boehly regime at Chelsea.
The practice of spreading the cost of a transfer over the length of a player’s contract for accounting purposes has become commonplace in elite football, and was discussed at Tuesday’s Premier League shareholder meeting.
Despite reported opposition from Chelsea, clubs voted to bring the Premier League’s rules on amortisation in line with those implemented by UEFA in June.
Regardless of the length of a player’s contract, clubs will now only be able to amortise transfer costs over a maximum period of five years when they submit their accounts to be judged against the league’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules.
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The lack of legislation on amortisation had attracted criticism from some quarters after Chelsea signed several high-profile players to longer-than-usual contracts as a means of staying within Premier League rules.
Chelsea have spent over £1billion on transfers since a Boehly-fronted consortium acquired the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.
Premier League Shareholders agree new five-year maximum to amortisation of player registration costs
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 12, 2023
Ukraine winger Mykhailo Mudryk signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract when he completed his €70million (£62m) move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January, with Enzo Fernandez also committing his future to the club until 2031 when he joined from Benfica in the same month.
The new rules, though, will not be backdated to be applicable to any transfers or contract renewals already completed.
Chelsea are being investigated by the Premier League after reports suggested secret payments from companies owned by Abramovich may amount to historic breaches of financial rules, with a heavy points deduction among the possible punishments if they are found guilty.
