Every True Blue knows that the spending at Chelsea since the forced Roman Abramovic takeover by Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital group has been nothing short of incredible, even given the modern day example of 115 Manchester City charges for breaches of Financial Fair Play.
As of yet though, on a Profit and Sustainability Regulations front we look free and clear so far, much to the annoyance of those wearing other colours, and if recent transfer window rumour mill reports are to be believed, we may soon be adding Manchester United talent Kobbie Mainoo to our ranks.
Despite known off pitch disagreements, the board have been incredibly clever in their utilisation of the ‘rules’ and the way we have used contract lengths to our advantage, but equally with so many managerial changes and what could fairly be described as our ‘new owners in a sweetshop’ approach to transfers, we have an unbalanced and bloated squad with incredibly expensive players not even near our 25 man Premier League squad cap.
We have already seen another £190 million spend since gaffer Enzo Maresca came in over the summer as Mauricio Pochettino’s replacement and we have recouped roughly £100 million in sales of big names like Thiago Silva, Conor Gallagher and Romelu Lukaku, added to loan deals for others like Trevor Chalobah and Raheem Sterling.
With our 44 year old Italian manager more than hitting the ground running in the 2024/25 campaign with 18 wins and six draws from his opening 30 matches to date, we are sat in fourth spot in the table. Clearly he has demonstrated that he can build a squad capable of challenging and whilst it is clear he will continue to be backed in the market, the educated guess is that we will see further moves out irrespective of any New Year strengthening.
So that brings us back to the 19 year old, ten capped England international midfielder. Having come through Old Trafford’s youth ranks, he now boasts 43 starts with nine substitute showings and has returned five goals, and it is being claimed that he will be available this month as Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues his own cost cutting exercise since his partial takeover at the Red Devil’s.
Whilst some Chelsea have got excited here, and the press have already garnered quotes from Cole Palmer saying what a great signing his mate would be for the club, it should be easily dismissed.
Mainoo is under contract until the summer of 2027, and United hold a further 12 month option on that. The stalemate being bandied around is not about a new extension to his deal, it is about a pay rise given his more recent progress.
United have a full two and a half years to decide whether or not to sell and cash in on him if a deal extension is not signed in future years, for now the press reports are agents playing games for a higher raise than is currently on offer but it will be a contract he ultimately signs – unless fans really believe he will stay on a lower wage for the sake of it even though the contract length will not change.
Not how football, or life works, is it!
Chelsea have got more important things to deal with this month, and Mainoo will not be one of them is my guess.
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