Chelsea mass signings ‘don’t make any sense’

3 comments

1. Could be truth to the rumours about a transfer ban

2. I don’t know if there is a plan outside of buying high potential young players when they are “cheaper” on lower salaries long term and that enough of them work out that they can be onsold for profit along with academy products and that this will offset the ones that don’t work out.

   It’s basically gambling but sort of hedging your bets each way. How they get the duds that are long term on their books off their books beats me. But I’d hazard a guess that someone reasonably smart has done some financial modelling that shows its a good chance of working – I think the scattergun implementation of recruitment will be its undoing. I don’t fully understand how they plan to get minutes into all these prospects to increase their value when so many are competing for the same positions and players such as Enzo and Caicedo are soooo expensive that they will need to perform outrageously to even get anywhere near the return of initial investment.

3. The theory is to buy assets and sell at a profit.

   Footballers value in theory should be lower at the start and end of their career. Peak value is around 26.

   So Chelsea sign lots of young players on long contracts that won’t run out until they are about 28 or 29 years of age. This enables them to not be held to ransom for wage increases when contracts need extending or players leaving for nothing.

   When players hit their peak they are then going to sell them and make a profit. Rinse and repeat.

   As a business it should work out ok if all goes to plan. It’s very high risk though. Also for a football club who wants to compete for trophies it’s terrible because they will be selling their best assets when they hit their peak years which weakens the team.