Chelsea employ interesting tactics to stay within Premier League's FFP rules: Reports

Chelsea FC are reportedly offering long-term contracts to their new signings to stay within the limits of Premier League's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. For example, the Blues offered Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk an 8.5-year deal after signing him for a whopping fee of 100 million euros ($108 million) from Shakhtar Donetsk.

How are Chelsea staying within Premier League's FFP rules?

In a conversation with Sky Sports, football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained how Chelsea FC are offering their new signings long-term contracts to stay within the Premier League's Financial Fair Play rules. "What Chelsea have decided to do is to spread the cost of the players by signing them on very long contracts," said Maguire.

He explained his point of view by adding, "So, by signing Mudryk on an eight-and-a-half-year contract, the way it is dealt with for accounting and FFP purposes is you take that £88m cost and you divide that over eight-and-a-half-years, and it works out as just over £10m-a-year. That appears to be the Chelsea strategy that they have employed over the last couple of windows."

Chelsea to face Liverpool at Anfield next

The Premier League is set to feature a blockbuster clash on Saturday as Chelsea are all set to travel to Anfield to face rivals, Liverpool. The Liverpool vs Chelsea clash will begin live at 6:00 PM IST on January 21. The managers of both clubs have revealed the line-ups, which are mentioned below:

Liverpool: Alisson; James Milner, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez, Andy Robertson; Stefan Bajcetic, Naby Keita, Thiago; Harvey Elliott, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah

Chelsea: Kepa Arrizabalaga; Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Benoît Badiashile, Marc Cucurella; Conor Gallagher, Jorginho; Hakim Ziyech, Mason Mount, Lewis Hall; Kai Havertz

Both clubs have been disappointing in this season so far as they are far off league leaders Arsenal. Liverpool are currently in ninth place with just 28 points after 18 games, a whopping 19 points behind the Gunners. On the other hand, Chelsea are currently in tenth place with 28 points but have played a game more than both Arsenal and Liverpool. With both teams currently placed in ninth and tenth, this clash could prove to be extremely important for both sides.