The Chelsea manager, José Mourinho, has described Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules as a contradiction which allow Europe’s elite clubs to maintain the status quo.
Chelsea spent almost £95m in the summer transfer window on new signings including Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas but were able to post an overall profit after selling David Luiz, Romelu Lukaku and Demba Ba. In contrast, Champions League holders Real Madrid spent almost £100m on new players this summer, while Manchester United’s spending almost broke the £150m barrier after completing deals for Ángel di María, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera among others.
“I think Financial Fair Play is a contradiction because, when football decided to go for Financial Fair Play it was exactly to put teams in equal conditions to compete,” Mourinho told Yahoo.
“But what happened really with the Financial Fair Play is a big protection to the historical, old, big clubs, which have a financial structure, a commercial structure, everything in place based on historical success for years and years and years.
“And the ‘new’ clubs - I call them ‘new’ clubs, those with new investment - they cannot put themselves quickly at the same level. Clubs with new owners cannot immediately attack the control and the domination of these big clubs.
“Chelsea is not an old, historical, huge club - but it’s also not a club with a new owner. It’s a club with the same owner for more than 10 years. A club with a very important history, with great stability too. And at this moment I think we are just below them. I can say we are a very good club with the ambition to be a great club.”
First agreed in principle in 2009 as a method of restricting spending among European clubs, FFP was introduced in the 2011-12 season. Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain were among the first teams to be sanctioned under the new rules this summer, with the English champions originally fined £49m for contravening rules.
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