European football governing body, UEFA has anounced it will change its Financial Fair Play rules in response to Chelsea’s recent trend of signing players on long-term contracts.
Signing players on extended contracts enables Chelsea to spread the player’s transfer fee over the length of that contract when submitting their annual accounts.
UEFA is to set a five-year limit over which a transfer fee can be spread.
Clubs will still be able to offer longer deals under UK regulations but will not be able to stretch transfer fees beyond the first five years.
The change to FFP rules will come into force during the summer and will not apply retrospectively.