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Well, it certainly made for a fun headline, but apparently something got lost in translation when Fenerbahce chairman Aziz Yildirim supposedly claimed that Chelsea were asking for €35m for John Obi Mikel. What Yildirim was apparently talking about was the total financial burden on Fenerbahce, rather than the actual price tag.
"Chelsea want €15 million and Mikel asked for €5 million a season over four years. We are talking €35 million."
-source: Aziz Yildirim; source: BBC
It's something that's rarely done in the current state of football media, but, especially in these FFP-days of extra attention to club finances, describing player costs purely in terms of transfer fees is becoming increasingly inadequate.
Underscores how important it is to take wages + contract length into account when dealing w transfers + player costs https://t.co/PJSwEi8KbW
— Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) July 12, 2015
Gary Cahill often comes to mind for me when talking about such things. We are often lauded for getting him on the cheap at just £7m or so. But we gave him an £80k/week contract (£4m+ per year) for five-and-a-half years, for a total financial commitment of roughly £30m. For a player who was expected to be a backup at the time of his signing (coming in as the replacement for Alex), that struck a sour note for many.
In any case, the €35m total commitment for Mikel is far too much for Fener. Not only would he become their record signing at €15m, the wages he's supposedly requesting make this deal completely untenable.
"This definitely is not something we can pursue."
-source: Aziz Yildirim; source: BBC
This is one of the reasons the previously reported interest from Abu Dhabi's Al-Ain seemed more likely to actually become reality. Certainly no problems there with financing. (Interestingly, perhaps, Al-Ain did just complete the signing of Mikel's international teammate Emmanuel Emenike on loan from Fenerbahce.)