UEFA Fines Force Chelsea Into Fire Sale as Arsenal Eye Noni Madueke's Hefty Price Tag
Chelsea must generate £60 million ($81.8 million) from player transfers following UEFA's recent financial penalties, according to a new report.
The club's substantial transfer expenditure resulted in two major UEFA sanctions—a potential €80 million ($94.2 million) fine for general financial violations and €11 million ($13 million) for exceeding squad cost limits—while also facing Champions League squad registration limitations.
According to The Times, Chelsea cannot add new players to their Champions League roster for the upcoming season without offsetting squad expenses from their current "List A", which represents their most recent UEFA-registered squad from the Conference League's latter stages. This regulation requires any new player investments to be counterbalanced by transfer revenue.
The current "List A" excludes Wesley Fofana and Roméo Lavia, who were left out due to injury concerns, while recent signings Liam Delap, João Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Estêvão, Dário Essugo, Andrey Santos, Mamadou Sarr and Mike Penders require registration.
Considering all amortized transfer costs, Chelsea must secure £60 million in sales revenue to register their complete roster of new acquisitions.
Positively for Chelsea, these required sales don't necessarily need to involve players from the current "List A", allowing returning loan players such as Raheem Sterling, João Félix, Ben Chilwell, Renato Veiga and Axel Disasi to be transferred to resolve the financial constraint.
Nevertheless, several prominent players in Enzo Maresca's current roster could potentially be sold. Christopher Nkunku is reportedly available for transfer, while Arsenal are pursuing winger Noni Madueke after securing personal terms with the England player.
Chelsea appear willing to part with Madueke but, according to The Telegraph, anticipate substantial returns on a player acquired for £30 million ($40.9 million) in January 2023. Arsenal or any interested club will need to pay at least £50 million ($68.2 million).
Despite the obvious complications from Chelsea's extensive spending, one advantage is that raising £60 million through transfers shouldn't be overly difficult, given that many of the club's peripheral players are already generating considerable transfer attention.