EXPLAINED: Chelsea’s transfer strategy and reasons behind enormous player contracts

Chelsea sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart have addressed the “misconceptions” surrounding the club’s sale of academy graduates, Soccernet.football reports.

The Blues have frequently been criticized for offloading academy players to help balance their Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR) during a time of extensive player recruitment.

Since 2022, Chelsea have spent over £1 billion on rebuilding their squad, avoiding PSR penalties through the sale of players like Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount, with academy graduate sales generating £93 million in profit over the past two years.

The sale of Gallagher to Atletico Madrid during the summer transfer window sparked outrage among fans, particularly as the midfielder had regularly captained the team throughout the 2023/2024 season.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Winstanley and Stewart defended the decision to sell academy graduates, explaining the rationale behind the moves.

“We had a significant offer for one of our academy products this summer that we absolutely chose not to take,” Winstanley revealed as he hit back at suggestions Chelsea are looking to cash in on homegrown talents.

“There’s a lot of misconception out there. We’ve had two debuts this year. There’s three or four more players in behind who we think we can push through this year as well that we’re keen to do.

“The manager’s on board with that, he’s aware of the players coming through. We give them opportunities when we can to make sure they’ve got that pathway.

“It’s not just about PSR, it’s contractual statuses, it’s circumstances. The two players you referenced, there were contractual problems that we walked into. It’s really important for us to bring through players.”

Stewart also explained that the controversial decision by Chelsea to offer exceptionally long contracts to players, such as Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo align with the club’s “long-term” ambitions.

“This is a club that needs to be in the Champions League, it’s a club that needs to be competing to win trophies consistently and we want to do that with a certain way of playing football as well,” he said.

“So that absolutely is the ambition. And then the plan has been how do we go on a path to make that possible. And that’s been around investing in talent, committing to develop talent and developing a way of playing, the way we want our teams to play.

“One of the messages the owners gave us from the beginning is that this is not about a short-term win or a short-term project, it’s about long-term success and that’s been one of the driving things on all of the decisions that we’ve made. That, absolutely, is the idea, to try to make the club long-term successful.”