Snak

The clock is ticking for Chelsea, who now have less than two weeks to prove to UEFA that they have balanced their books enough to be permitted to add their abundance of summer signings to Enzo Maresca’s Champions League squad for this season.

The Blues have sold well this summer: Joao Felix to Al-Nassr in a deal worth up to £43.7million; Djordje Petrovic to Bournemouth for £25m; Armando Broja and Lesley Ugochukwu to Burnley for £45m.

However, none of those sales will help their case in the eyes of European football’s governing body, with whom they entered into a settlement agreement in July after flunking financial rules, and nor would finding new homes for exiles such as Raheem Sterling or Ben Chilwell.

That is because UEFA have now confirmed to Confidential that their auditors will only be accounting for the money made on those who were named in the squad submitted by Chelsea for last season’s Conference League knockout stages.

Crucially, that means the sales of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Everton, Noni Madueke to Arsenal and Mathis Amougou to Strasbourg will work towards satisfying UEFA, but the exits of Felix et al will not. Felix did feature in the Conference League but only in the first half of the season. He was then excluded from their knockout-stage squad as he was sent on loan to AC Milan for the second half.

Chelsea are continuing to work on selling stars who were involved in that Conference League run-in, such as Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku. The Blues are prioritising permanent sales for those two particular players rather than loaning them away, as they did with Marc Guiu and Sunderland.

Chelsea’s complex agreement with UEFA included a record fine worth £26.8m rising to £78.5m, but the key sporting sanction warned how the club ‘may not register any new player on its List A to UEFA club competitions unless the List A Transfer Balance is positive’.

In simplistic terms, it means the cost of adding anyone new to their Champions League squad for the coming campaign must be covered by those already sold.
UEFA’s literature defined this as ‘cost savings’ versus ‘new costs’ and related to their A List, where they can register up to 25 senior stars.

Chelsea face no additional restrictions on who they can add to their B List, though that is reserved for youngsters born on or after January 1, 2004 and who have been with the club for at least two uninterrupted years.

Interestingly, because Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia were not included in Chelsea’s Conference League knockout-stage squad last season, they will require registering like everyone else who arrived this summer.

Fofana would need to be added to their A List, just like Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, Jorrel Hato, Jamie Gittens, Estevao Willian, Dario Essugo, et cetera. However, Lavia is helpfully believed to be B List eligible due to his age – he makes the cut by only six days with January 6, 2004 his date of birth – and the fact he has now been at Chelsea for two years.

Confidential asked UEFA insiders for further information on ‘cost savings’ versus ‘new costs’ with Chelsea looking to balance their A List.
We were told ‘cost savings’ cover amortisation and salary while if Chelsea make a profit on a sold player, a third of that is taken into account.
For example, Chelsea signed Madueke for £29m from PSV Eindhoven but sold him for £48.5m to Arsenal.

That means £6.5m of the £19.5m difference should help with UEFA, who stood up this specific scenario when asked.

Jadon Sancho and Lucas Bergstrom were also released in the summer, freeing up their salaries, while Mykhailo Mudryk is still suspended from football after being charged with anti-doping violations.

We were then told ‘new costs’ are likewise based on amortisation and salary.
As an example, Delap cost £30m, but that is seen as £6m annually because of UEFA’s five-year restriction on contract lengths, despite him penning an even longer deal upon arriving from Ipswich.

The bottom line is, when Chelsea submit their Champions League squad on September 2, the ‘cost savings’ must be higher than the ‘new costs’ to allow for new additions, and they can register fewer than the allocation of 25 players on their A List if they wish, as a way of meeting that target.

That could lead to the Blues picking and choosing which players they can afford to add for use in Europe’s elite competition while excluding those they cannot.

Chelsea did not comment when asked if they were confident they would be allowed to add the stars they want to their Champions League squad or if further sales were still a necessity, but all will be revealed in less than two weeks’ time.

Report: Chelsea Negotiating Third Summer Sale to Sister Club Strasbourg

Chelsea could allow academy talent Genesis Antwi to join sister club RC Strasbourg before the upcoming summer transfer deadline, reports have revealed.
The youngster turned 18 in May, but his development and path to senior football might be better served by looking elsewhere. As a right back, Reece James, Malo Gusto and even Josh Acheampong stand in front of him, although the latter impressed at centre back in Chelsea’s season opener.

First reported by The Chelsea Spot and corroborated by L’Équipe, Antwi was a visitor at Strasbourg’s training ground last week. Talks between Chelsea and the Ligue 1 side, who share a common owner in BlueCo, are set to continue.

Chelsea owners BlueCo are reported to have agreed a deal to sign ex-Town loanee Julio Enciso from Brighton.

The 21-year-old Paraguayan international is expected to join Ligue 1 Strasbourg, another club in the BlueCo group, but, according to The Athletic, is seen as a Chelsea player in the longer term.

🚨 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐆𝐎! Julio Enciso set to join Chelsea future move, now going to Strasbourg 🔵🇵🇾

Agreement done with Brighton for €20m package with add-ons included to get the deal done immediately 🤝🏻

Paraguayan talent will play at Strasbourg this season… then move to Chelsea on a contract until June 2031.

The agreement will also include an option until June 2032 — medical tests ready on Thursday in London.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞. 🤩

Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has reported on his X account:

“Exclusive details: Renato #Veiga will sign a 7-year contract with Villarreal until 2032. Chelsea have also secured a 40% sell-on clause. The total package is worth €30 million including bonuses.

“Agreement between Villarreal and Chelsea is done, with the medical scheduled for Thursday.”
The story was short

Veiga has come and gone at Chelsea very quick as his short story at the club ends already. I think something happened here and he was the one pushing to leave more than Chelsea pushing him out the door. It didn’t work out.