Garnacho, Rogers and two clubs trying to balance the books

How can Chelsea afford Morgan Rogers? And why are Aston Villa pursuing a loan for Alejandro Garnacho rather than buying him? Just hours after Chelsea made Morgan Rogers the most expensive British footballer in history by spending £117m to sign him from Aston Villa, they are in talks to loan Alejandro Garnacho to the Villans.

But how can Chelsea afford to sign Rogers? And why did Villa pursue a loan with a conditional obligation to buy rather than buying Garnacho outright? It is no secret that Chelsea are close to the limit of their spending under Uefa's financial rules.

The club were fined £2.6m for breaching the regulations, though £1.7m of that can be written off if they continue to reduce expenditure and/or increase revenue by next summer. But Chelsea 's financial position has actually improved since last summer, when they were handed a £26.7m fine and placed under a four-year settlement agreement with Uefa. They sold about £300m worth of players - a Premier League record - last season and are expected to generate a similar figure again this time around.

The Blues have already raised more than £120m through player sales and spent between £164m and £210m, depending whether pre-contract signings such as Geovany Quenda, Emmanuel Emegha and Valentin Barco are included alongside deals for Rogers and Marco Palestra since Xabi Alonso became manager. Chelsea see the stockpiling of players as an investment they can cash in on when needed. Transfermarkt puts their squad value at £1.3bn - behind only Manchester City in the Premier League and the fourth-highest in Europe.

More broadly, Chelsea continue to carry significant debts. Their most recent accounts - for 2024-25 - showed a Premier League record loss of £262m within the club's companies, with losses of £701m at parent-company level. That has contributed to liabilities of more than £1bn across the parent company.

However, sources close to the ownership group say the investment model, which makes use of third-party loan providers, is highly structured, common among elite sports organisations and focused on long-term sustainability. They also project a big increase in revenue in their next set of accounts to a club record £700m. Maguire said: "So, 85% is their PSR compliance with the Premier League but that does give them a slight advantage. If you look at the small print of the Premier League's SCR rules, you can spend up to 115% of revenue on your player costs because that takes you up to what we refer to as the red zone.

"Provided you're in the red zone and don't go beyond it, you still end up effectively paying a tax on additional costs, rather than having a points deduction. Chelsea would have looked at the rules and established it. I'm sure they are looking to sell more players.

After signing Rogers, Chelsea are not finished in the transfer market. The club have explored a number of defensive options, including holding talks over Crystal Palace centre-back Maxence Lacroix and showing interest in former Manchester City defender John Stones and Como's Jacobo Ramon. They are also in talks with Rayo Vallecano over a move for full-back Pep Chavarria, who is expected to cost between £25m and £40m. That is on the back of pre-agreeing four signings since the start of 2025, completing deals for Palestra and Rogers and having a £64m bid for Bournemouth's Alex Scott rejected.

Before any further arrivals, and with Dastan Satpaev due to join from FC Kairat in August, Chelsea have 38 senior players on their books. The solution is likely to be further sales. Sources indicate Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Guiu are among the players available for transfer, while Mamadou Sarr is expected to leave on loan elsewhere in the Premier League.

Most of the remaining squad could also be available at the right price, though a small group of players are considered untouchable. That includes Moises Caicedo, Estevao Willian, Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and Levi Colwill, as well as some of the club's most highly rated young prospects, including Josh Acheampong. Chelsea have also failed to qualify for European competition.

Analysis of successful seasons without Europe - including Leicester City's title-winning campaign in 2015-16, Chelsea 's Premier League triumph under Antonio Conte a year later, and more recent Champions League qualification campaigns by Newcastle United in 2024-25 and Manchester United last season - shows only 13 or 14 players typically exceed 1,500 minutes across all competitions. It underlines the scale of the task facing Chelsea, with Fifa having also moved to outlaw so-called "bomb squads" this summer.