UEFA are looking to curb the potential for Premier League dominance in the transfer market with radical changes to their proposed capping of fees and wages in the future. English clubs have come under increasing scrutiny in the past year for their ability to outspend their European rivals.
Chelsea owners Boehly-Clearlake came under fire after they spent over half a billion pounds in their first two transfer windows at the club. Their strategy of signing promising young players to longer contracts raised eyebrows and appeared to have prompted the European governing body to set a maximum contract length of five years going forwards.
In January alone the Premier League spent £736million on transfers, over three times that of the other top five leagues combined. While the Blues were a main component of such a high spend, splashing out on a whole host of signings, relegated Southampton for example had the spending power of La Liga and Serie A combined.
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Experts have warned of the gap growing larger, while others point to times when foreign leagues had their time in the spotlight and were able to pay such fees. UEFA's new proposed plan was to introduce regulations that tackle wages and transfers that worked out as a percentage of revenue.
In 2023, the introduction of the Financial Sustainability Regulations [FSR] would start as 90 per cent of all revenue and would dwindle to 70 per cent in 2025, where the cap would stay unless it would need to be tweaked. However, with the Premier League's larger revenues, mainly driven by the large broadcasting rights, the division would still be able to outspend their rivals.
According to the Times, that balance is set to shift again as new radical changes are set to be put in place that will cap the total amount that a club can spend on transfers. This will override the percentage of revenue, so even if a club is spending below that, the total cap will still have to be followed.
This cap will be judged on amortisation, which is the depreciation of transfer values across the length of a player's contract after they've signed. It could soon address the balance of the transfer market for all clubs in the English top tier, meaning that a trio of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham may be wise to take advantage of the system before it is put in place.
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