Taking a closer look at Chelsea's player wages

After taking a closer look at the Chelsea wage database, I found some interesting trends and highlights, some of which I will share with you now.

Loan finances

• Chelsea is on the hook for an estimated £21m this season in FFP wage costs for players the club has sent out on loan.  This is a good example of the hidden costs of player development (money well spent in my eyes, but the figure is worth noting, especially since few, if any clubs, loan out this much capital investment).
• Victor Moses' loan to Liverpool reduces his FFP cost from £3.36m to just £300k this season.
• Romelu Lukaku's loan to Everton reduces his FFP cost from £5.88m to £1.8m this season.
• At the end of this season, Thibaut Courtois will have cost the club a total of £2.8m.  He is signed through the 2015-2016 season, and regardless of whether he's the goalkeeper of the future or a future sale, (like most of you, I'm hoping for the former) it would be good business to sign him to an extension as soon as possible.

Chelsea pays a premium for Brazilians and Belgians

• Chelsea has committed over £190m to its six Brazilians.
• Chelsea has committed over £135m to its five Belgians.  To put this in perspective, the wage bill for the entire Belgian Pro League was around £68m in 2010-2011.
• Since the decision was made to start collecting Belzians, Chelsea has committed a "mere" £125m on its seven primary Englishmen (I included the exempted wages under Annex 11 §2 in this calculation).

Miscellaneous facts and figures

• When it's all said and done, Chelsea will have spent £101.5m on five and a half years of Fernando Torres (£18.5m per year). PSG's total outlay on Edinson Cavani totals £96.5m over five years (£19.3m per year).  Manchester United committed £70m to Robin Van Persie over four years (£17.5m per year).  Manchester City has committed an estimated £100m on Sergio Aguero over a six year period (£16.7m per year).  When you look at these numbers, it seems like Chelsea got good value for Torres (said no one ever).
• The six attacking midfielders / wingers currently in the first team will cost an estimated £54m this season (Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Willian, Schurrle, de Bruyne).  To put this in perspective, the entirety of Southampton FC is worth £57.5m.
• Juan Mata is in dire need of a new agent - woefully underpaid at £67k per week, Mata ranks 15th on the team in terms of wages, despite being named Chelsea's Player of the Year in each of the two years he's been with the club. Here's hoping that he gets a raise (along with a five year extension) soon.
• Despite all of the additions Chelsea has made, the four players that have been here since at least 2004 (Terry, Lampard, Cole, Cech) are all among the top-seven highest paid players.
• Chelsea probably needs to stop doing business with Liverpool. The Sturridge deal aside (which was good business on both sides if you believe that Sturridge would've left on a free six months later, which I do), Chelsea has gotten the short end of all of their dealings. In addition to Torres, Chelsea spent over £15m on Yossi Benayoun and Raul Meireles (after factoring in Benayoun's loans and Meireles' transfer fee).  This brings the Liverpudlian tab (no doubt brought to the table by a familiar rotund Iberian server) to £115m+ for a big plate of mediocrity.
• Chelsea should probably keep doing business in Belgium.  Lukaku (Anderlecht), Courtois, and de Bruyne (both Genk) have all proven to be ridiculously good investments.  Chelsea's commitment to those three totals £49.2m (including future wages).  I'm not going to try to put a valuation on those lads, but suffice it to say, they are becoming increasingly valuable commodities by the day.

<h4>More from We Ain't Got No History:</h4>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/9/4710130/technical-director-michael-emenalo-explains-chelsea-loan-policy?utm_source=weaintgotnohistory&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Technical Director Michael Emenalo explains Chelsea's loan policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/9/4710076/frank-lampard-english-media-love-in?utm_source=weaintgotnohistory&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">All of a sudden, everybody loves Frank Lampard</a></li><li><a href="http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/8/4707794/chelsea-samuel-etoo-cameroon-slight-injury?utm_source=weaintgotnohistory&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Samuel Eto'o latest Chelsea player to pick up a knock on international duty</a></li><li><a href="http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/8/4706636/chelsea-technical-director-michael-emenalo-mourinho-lukaku-youth-development?utm_source=weaintgotnohistory&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Technical Director Michael Emenalo on Mourinho, Lukaku, and youth development at Chelsea</a></li><li><a href="http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/8/4706218/john-terry-stiliyan-petrov-charity-match?utm_source=weaintgotnohistory&utm_medium=nextclicks&utm_campaign=blogs">Bigger John Terry cliche: 'Secret Good Guy' or 'Worst Human Being?'</a></li>

</ul>