Why Chelsea need to sell players to register new signings for Champions League | OneFootball

Blues must raise more than £60m in sales to ensure new arrivals can play in Champions League next season as part of sanctions for breaching UEFA rules

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That means any spending to add to their UEFA-registered squad list must be covered by transfer fees received for outgoing players.

Chelsea were last week hit with fines of up to £78.5million for failing to comply with UEFA’s financial rules.

They have been made to pay a minimum of £26.7m plus up to £51.8m in conditional fees, making it the largest fine the European football governing body has ever placed on a club.

New Chelsea signing Liam Delap

Getty Images

Chelsea also accepted a settlement agreement with UEFA which includes various sanctions placed on them over a four-year period beginning this summer. Some sanctions are unconditional and others are conditional, depending on the club's ability to demonstrate it has complied with certain restrictions.

Chapter seven of their settlement agreement stipulates that Chelsea agreed “to be subject to a sporting restriction and, as a consequence, may not register any new player on its List A to UEFA club competitions unless the List A transfer balance is positive.”

‘List A’ refers to the main squad clubs register for UEFA competitions.

The cost of registering a new player takes into consideration the player’s salary and amortised transfer fee.

Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia were not included in Chelsea ‘List A’ for the knockout stage of the Conference League last season, so the cost of adding them into their Champions League squad for the coming season must be taken into account.

Already this summer, Chelsea have signed Joao Pedro from Brighton for up to £60m, Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund for up to £52m, and spent £30m on Liam Delap. They also paid a combined £32.5m to sign Dario Essugo and Mamadou Sarr, while Estevao Willian and Andrey Santos have also joined.

It is thought Chelsea may need to raise more than £60m in player sales to register everyone they would want to.

The new financial restrictions could put pressure on Chelsea to send a number of those arrivals out on loan so they do not need to be added to the A List.

Chelsea have until September 2 to register their A List, so the Blues have almost two months to ensure the numbers add up.

The Blues hope to sell Raheem Sterling, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix, Ben Chilwell, Renato Veiga and Axel Disasi before registering their new A List.

They are also open to the sale of Noni Madueke if the price is right, with Arsenal understood to have agreed personal terms with the winger and an opening bid likely to follow.

Goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, who is wanted by Sunderland, could also leave.