UEFA to prevent clubs spreading cost of transfers with lengthy contracts

For instance, a £100million fee would be amortised at £20million a year with a five-year contract, but at only £12.5m a year if a deal was eight years.

Clubs will no longer be able to spread the cost of transfer fees over more than five years of an initial contract, as Chelsea did with Mykhailo Mudryk in January (Adam Davy/PA)

Chelsea and other European clubs will no longer be able to spread a transfer fee across more than five years of a player’s initial contract after UEFA closed a loophole in its regulations.

The Blues have signed a number of players on lengthy deals over the last two transfer windows, including handing eight-and-a-half-year contracts to Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk in January.