‘They’ll either be the smartest people in the room or pretty stupid!’ Gary Neville admits he struggles to understand Chelsea’s ‘staggering’ £323m spend and long contracts as he warns January arrivals may feel they’ve been ‘exploited’
- Chelsea spent £323million on eight new signings during the January window
- The club has followed a policy of awarding contracts as long as 8.5 years
- But Gary Neville has warned such a strategy comes with plenty of drawbacks
Gary Neville has expressed his scepticism at Chelsea‘s policy of awarding long contracts to new signings – saying the club’s owners could either be ‘the smartest people in the room or pretty stupid.’
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly splashed out £323million on eight players – described as ‘staggering’ by Neville – during the January window, putting some on contracts of seven years or more to circumvent Financial Fair Play rules.
British record £107m signing Enzo Fernandez was given an eight-and-a-half year contract, likewise Mykhailo Mudryk, while Benoit Badiashile signed a seven-and-a-half year deal.
Neville, speaking on his weekly podcast, has highlighted some of the pitfalls of Chelsea’s approach.
‘There’s no such thing as certainty in an eight-year contract,’ he said.
Chelsea’s January arrivals Enzo Fernandez (left) and Mykhailo Mudryk (right) were placed on eight-and-a-half year contracts by the club
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly sanctioned a January shopping spree of £323m on eight players
Gary Neville has admitted he is struggling to see the logic behind Chelsea’s enormous spend
‘Let’s say Mykhailo becomes a Lionel Messi in four years and Chelsea would sit here today and say “we’ve got him locked down for another four years on a lower wage.”
‘I don’t care whether he’s got four years left on his contract or not, Mudryk will kick off, his agent will kick off, he’ll down tools and say “I want more money.”
‘You’ll end up paying the Messi wage or you’ll have a very unhappy player for the last four years who’ll feel he’s been exploited because he signed an eight-year contract at the age of 22.
‘In football, in this country, with players coming particularly from international soil, I do not see how an eight-year contract can be honoured if the player progresses…