The sale of Armando Broja to Burnley has seen Chelsea achieve a significant milestone.
The ₤20 million that they will book from the sale of the Albanian striker means that they have made more than ₤250 million from sales of academy players in under three years.
This has not been by accident. In fact, Todd Boehly and the Clearwater Consortium have continued the strategy that was begun whilst the club was still owned by Roman Abramovich, and it has helped the club meet the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules, despite continuing to be one of the biggest spenders in the league,
That is because the sale of an academy player can be booked as a pure profit in the account, and can all be booked in the year of sale, as opposed to an incoming transfer which can be amortised over the length of a player’s contract (although this has now been capped at five years).
There may be further sales of academy players before the window closes as well, with Tyrique George and Trevoh Chalabah both linked with moves away.
