The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, has said that Chelsea have not exploited any ‘loopholes’ in the current Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSRs) amid claims that deals the club made before the June 30 deadline may have been illegal.
Just over a month ago, the Blues completed a number of deals ahead of the deadline that saw them try to balance out the books in order to stay within the regulations around the top flight’s PSRs, with Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Everton also doing the same. Players were sold between the four clubs in what appeared to be mutually-beneficial sales, including the Blues’ sale of their homegrown Dutch defender Ian Maatsen for £37.5m to Unai Emery’s side who sold Chelsea young striker Omari Kellyman for £19m the same week.
Villa also exchanged academy star Tim Iroegbunam for Everton starlet Lewis Dobbin in separate £9m deals. Following the deadline, there were calls that the clubs had found a loophole within the PSR system and were essentially ‘gaming’ the system in order for their accounting books to appear balanced and within regulations by the deadline of June 30.
The Blues were also accused of exploiting the system when they sold two hotels to a sister company in a £76.5m deal and sold the women’s team to the club’s parent company the same month. While the Premier League has already resolved the matter around the hotel deals, it’s yet to determine whether or not the sale of the women’s team was done at fair market value, although Masters believes that clubs are yet to ‘exploit’ the PSR rules to their advantage.
He said: “The rules are well understood and so I wouldn’t describe these as loopholes. They’re understood and permitted within the rules and our job is to ensure that [clubs] comply with the letter of the rules. Obviously you’ve got lots of clubs who have different spending plans over a three-year period and we care less about that plan, more about the eventuality that everybody complies with those rules.
“So there’s different ways of achieving the same thing, which is being within the limit. There is a collective spirit within the Premier League that still exists. It is a competition. So it’s set up for people to compete with each other and clubs compete with each other on the pitch, off the pitch, in sponsorship markets, for new investment.
“They’re competing with each other all the time and everyone is trying to find an angle, whether it be signing a player, finding a way to be better in the Premier League. And I think that is a great thing.”
Masters was also grilled on the ‘pure profit’ sentiment currently taking the league by storm, with clubs seemingly incentivised by the rules to sell their academy or ‘homegrown’ talents in order to maximise profits in the transfer market, with Chelsea being one of the leading examples. The £55m sale of Mason Mount to Manchester United last summer alongside Maatsen, Lewis Hall and potentially both Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah this summer means the Blues stand to make a hefty chunk of change back on just five players that they paid nothing for.
“I’m not quite sure how you apply accounting principles and avoid that outcome [of homegrown players being sold],” Masters admitted. “I do understand the point, but I think there is a huge opportunity for young players, young homegrown players in the Premier League at the moment.
“I think it’s one of the great stories of the last 10 years, the fortunes of the England team being transformed by the investment that’s been made in the academy system, not just across the Premier League but across the EFL as well. The story around young players in this country is a really positive one.”
