The scale of Chelsea's policy for putting players on lengthy contracts has been well and truly hammered home.
Sky Sports News added up all the remaining contract lengths for the various Premier League clubs, creating an eye-catching graphic that makes clear just how monstrously long the current deals at Stamford Bridge are set to run.
The rest of the Premier League all have players on deals that add up to a cumulative number of years between Everton’s 47 and Tottenham Hotspur’s 97, for an average of around 71.5 years.
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Chelsea have 191 years' worth of accumulated contracts
Chelsea’s number? 191. That means that if they strung out all their existing contracts back-to-back to have one current player at a time on their books, they would still have someone there in 2215. Probably Romelu Lukaku.
That means Chelsea are just a few signings short of having sufficient collective contracts on their books to take them through to the birth of Spock and James T. Kirk, which as we all know will definitely happen in 2230 and 2233 respectively. More like Romulan Lukaku, then.
Chelsea have been in the habit of handing out lengthy contracts in recent years, partly as a means of reducing their cost liability in the eyes of the Premier League when calculating profit and sustainability figures.
Cumulative Premier League contract lengths in years
| Club | Years left on contracts |
|---|---|
| Chelsea | 191 |
| Tottenham | 97 |
| Brighton | 96 |
| Wolves | 83 |
| Manchester United | 82 |
| Nottingham Forest | 80 |
| Southampton | 78 |
| Bournemouth | 75 |
| Brentford | 74 |
| West Ham | 73 |
| Aston Villa | 72 |
| Manchester City | 71 |
| Newcastle | 69 |
| Leicester | 67 |
| Liverpool | 64 |
| Arsenal | 62 |
| Crystal Palace | 59 |
| Ipswich | 58 |
| Fulham | 51 |
| Everton | 47 |
Until the middle of last season, club could amortise (or 'spread', essentially) transfer spend over the full length of players' contracts - so the £40m they spent on Cole Palmer costs them £4m per year over the length of his whopping ten-year contract.
Last December the Premier League clubs voted to shrink down that loophole (much like when Starfleet tried to close the Bajoran wormhole after a Dominion invasion began to look inevitable), with clubs now only allowed to amortise contracts over a maximum of five years.
Chelsea are still putting their players on long deals, however: Pedro Neto, Filip Jorgensen and Renato Veiga have all signed seven year contracts this summer.
Enzo Maresca's side lost to Manchester City in their opening game of the new campaign, with the champions winning at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and former Chelsea man Mateo Kovacic.
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