Chelsea could face a huge dilemma over the next six months, with their transfer plans potentially sent into disarray following the emergence of key details in one of their player's contract.
Over the past year, Chelsea have become synonymous with amortisation on new signings, helping them add more than 25 new players to their squad in just three transfer windows.
This has also required selling key players, such as Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic, in order to balance the books. In doing so, their eagerness to let players leave might just have created a huge problem for themselves.
In August, Lewis Hall completed a season-long loan move to Newcastle United, in a deal which included an obligation to buy for £35m. The obligation is based on performance-related criteria, with it widely reported that the 19-year-old needs to make a certain number of appearances to move to Newcastle permanently next summer.
According to The Telegraph, though, that isn't the case. The publication reports that Hall's future at Newcastle is unrelated to the number of appearances he makes for Eddie Howe's side, with the exact criteria not yet know.
Howe himself has even admitted that's he's "not 100 per cent sure" if Hall will permanently join his team, either, regardless of if the criteria is met.
The situation could pose a huge dilemma for Chelsea as a result, with the Blues purposely moving players on in order to fund transfers for new signings. With Hall and academy product, his £35m transfer counted as pure profit within the FFP regulations, allowing the Blues to make more staggered payments across a number of years for multiple players.
That plan might be scuppered, however, with Hall's transfer to Newcastle unclear. The left-sided player has struggled for minutes under Eddie Howe this term, and other Premier League sides might not be willing to fork out such a hefty figure for a relatively unproven player.
Chelsea, therefore, might have to look to move other players on in order to keep up with their £1bn plus spending.
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