It’s more common to see clubs stockpile players just now, but it felt like Chelsea were the first team to really take advantage of signing young talent to develop and then sell for a profit.
One of the biggest parts of that strategy is loaning those players out – it allows them to develop and put themselves in the shop window, which will then lead to them being sold for a profit in the future.
A report from The Evening Standard has looked at some of the new loan rules being brought in by FIFA, and it could have a drastic effect on Chelsea and their transfer strategy.
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They state that Chelsea currently have as many as 40 players out on loan, but that won’t be allowed with these new changes. The most notable change will see them only being able to loan out six players to foreign teams by the 2022/23 season, but they will also be limited to a maximum of three to the same club.
Chelsea have had a long standing arrangement with Vitesse in Holland which has seen multiple players go on loan there, but that will now be limited.
The biggest problem will be deciding what to do with all of these players on the books. If they can’t loan them out then they probably won’t have any choice but to sell them, but that will also reduce their leverage in any transfer negotiations too.
In theory this should be good for the game, it would mean talented players shouldn’t be hoovered up by all the big clubs and they might filter down to other teams a bit more, but time will tell if it really works.