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Cesc Fabregas to Chelsea: the financial impact of the transfer

David Ramos

Now that Chelsea has signed Cesc Fabregas for a reported £27m (with an additional £2.5m in potential add-on fees), we now turn our attention to how the deal impacts Chelsea from a financial perspective.

Fabregas signed a five-year deal, and for the purposes of FFP accounting (which, for Chelsea, is the only sort of accounting that matters), when a player is purchased, the transfer fee is amortised over the life of the player's contract.

Assuming Fabregas meets the performance-related clauses that trigger the additional £2.5m in add-ons, the total transfer fee sits at £29.5m, or £5.9m per year.

When we add his reported £156k per week salary to the amortised transfer fee, we see that he'll cost £14m per year (£5.9m amortised transfer fee + £8.1m annual wages).

For perspective, assuming the Diego Costa deal goes through, Fabregas will be the fourth most expensive Chelsea player on the FFP books.

  • Torres: £18.5m
  • Hazard: £16.7m
  • Costa: ~£16m (est)
  • Fabregas: £14m
  • Willian: £10.8m
Chelsea's financial commitment to Fabregas totals £70m over the next five seasons, more than any other player during that timeframe (bar Costa, should the deal become finalised).

Fabregas just turned 27 a few months ago, so he should still have some excellent years left, but a more defensive-minded midfielder would have seemed to be a better fit. Fortunately, Chelsea can spend freely this summer and signing Fabregas won't prevent Chelsea from trying to pry away one of the Juventus midfielders if that's the direction Jose Mourinho and Michael Emenalo want to take.

Our friends at the Soccer Gods "have a feeling that Cesc Fabregas will revitalise his career at Chelsea," and given that they hold themselves out as the polytheistic deities of our sport, you know who to blame if it doesn't work out.

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