The current 20 member clubs of the Premier League have agreed to limit player contracts to five years, thereby closing a loophole used chiefly by Chelsea in recent years to enable them to buy more players than would otherwise be possible.
The London club spent £430m this past summer alone and have splashed out close to £1bn since Todd Boely and his group took over the club by signing players to seven- and eight-year contracts to circumvent Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Such deals allowed Chelsea to spread payments over the lifetime of long contracts, thereby reducing the net outlay on players in a given accounting period.
Now, however, the League’s clubs have voted to close this amortisation loophole but Chelsea will face no consequences for bending the rules as the tactic was not illegal up to this point and the ruling won’t be backdated.
The decision brings the Premier League in line with UEFA who voted in the same rule over the summer.