Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Morgan Rogers, and questions have been raised over they can afford it.
England star Rogers joined the Blues from Aston Villa on Tuesday for a massive £117million fee.
Alejandro Garnacho has since moved in the other direction on loan, with an obligation to buy if certain conditions are met.
Football finance expert Stefan Borson doesn’t believe the two clubs struck any kind of deal relating to the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules, however.
‘I wouldn’t read too much into it’
Asked whether he thought there was an ‘arrangement of convenience’ between Chelsea and Villa, Borson told talkSPORT on Tuesday: “I don’t think so actually at this point, particularly on Garnacho.
“First thing is, it is a loan, and we know that Villa have taken a number of players on loan with conditions and have not bought those players ultimately.
“So they’ve ended up paying relatively small loan fees, including players with Chelsea themselves.”
Jadon Sancho and Axel Disasi have both spent time on loan at Villa from Chelsea in recent seasons, but neither player made their move permanent.
“So I wouldn’t read too much into it that it’s a certain deal,” Borson continued.
“I think the other factor is that there’s no profit on Garnacho either way. I mean, there be a couple of million here or there, but it’s certainly not significant player trading profit.
“It gets them out of a difficult deal, I guess. I mean, I think they’ve done well to get their money back largely if the player does end up going to Villa [permanently].”
‘A red herring’
“But generally,” Borson added. “It doesn’t really work from settling the issue that they have with UEFA. I think it’s a bit of a red herring there.”
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Both Chelsea and Villa were among four English clubs fined for breaching UEFA’s squad-cost rules for 2025.
Villa and Chelsea entered into three and four-year settlement agreements with UEFA in light of the aforementioned rule breaches.
Newcastle and Nottingham Forest were the other sides punished.
Villa have also been linked with a move for Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson, but a deal for the striker could prove difficult, as Borson explained.
“And of course, if they did a permanent deal with, say, Jackson,” Borson said.
“And they can’t do a loan deal now because they’ve got one player on loan [from Chelsea, Garnacho]. So they’d have to do a permanent deal with Jackson.
“And the rules have changed this summer such that if you trade a player within 45 days, it’s deemed to be a player exchange. And that will cause both Villa and Chelsea issues in respect of their UEFA settlement.”
