How Chelsea has beaten Financial Fair Play (FFP)

News that Chelsea signed Arsena's target Mikhyalo Mudryk from Shaktar Donestk grabbed headlines as to how the club managed to support such expensive buys .The late move for the player for a club record 88.5 million pounds to Graham Potter's side after outbidding Arsenal got pundits questioning if the club was breaking the financial fair play rules.

Well, what is FIFA financial fair play? It's a rule which was introduced by UEFA in 2011 to stop clubs from spending more than what they earn, especially European clubs. If a club breaches the principle,they are subjected to fines like reduction of points in domestic leagues, demotion to lower- ranking competitions and a total exclusion from UEFA tournaments.

Professional sports analysts will tell you, the blues under new manager Graham Potter have managed to escape the fine from FFP by buying players a long term contract. For instance Mykhailo Mudryk's deal was structured on eight  and half  years in a process known as  (amortization) where Chelsea will pay an average of 10 million pounds per year for the player over the entire eight year period with the deal also relying heavily on add-ons as opposed to money paid up front.

 Recent signings by Chelsea like Christopher Nkunku and Beneo Badiashile were also structured around long contracts and standardised payment.

As far as Chelsea are concerned, they are strictly within the rules. With the rules also quite new within the game, it will be a case of 'touch and construct' between clubs and FIFA until a general baseline for the application is achieved.