Chelsea announce CONTROVERSIAL signing: Official confirmation to leave Premier League rivals fuming

Robin Bairner

Updated: 29 Jun 2024 06:08 CDT
3 min read

Chelsea have announced that they have signed Omari Kellyman from Aston Villa in a deal worth a reported €22.5 million (£19m).

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The Blues have announced that he has signed a six-year deal that stretches to 2030, with the option of a further year.

Kellyman emerged as a target for the Blues as they discussed a transfer deal with Ian Maatsen moving in the opposite direction.

Current ETV

Omari Kellyman

M, AM (C)

Aston Villa U23

Omari Kellyman

M, AM (C)

Aston Villa U23

ETV Range

€0.6M - €1.0M

Villa announced the Maatsen deal on Friday, but this transfer is officially a unique transaction.

Kellyman, who made seven appearances for Unai Emery’s side, is delighted to have completed the move.

“It is fantastic to be standing here as a Chelsea player. It’s a massive club with an amazing history, so it is great to join. It is a dream come true for sure. I’m buzzing to have put on the shirt and can’t wait to get started,” he said in a statement made on Chelsea’s official website.

Controversial deal

The transfer, though, is set to draw heat from the Premier League, which warned both Chelsea and Aston Villa about completing deals at inflated transfer fees.

There is a suspicion that clubs may be colluding in order to avoid Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). These state that teams cannot make a loss of more than £105m in a rolling three-year period.

Transferring players, though, offers an appealing loophole due to the way in which these deals are recorded in accounts.

Chelsea, for example, will be able to put the complete €42.5m fee for Maatsen in their 2023/24 accounts but will breakdown Kellyman’s transfer fee over the course of his contract. Rules were changed in December to maximise this over a five-year period, meaning he will only cost the Blues a reported €4.5m each season for the next five.

Kellyman’s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV), which is a formula unique to FootballTransfers and is based off more than 600,000 historical deals, is just €800,000 – more than 28 times lower than the transfer fee Chelsea are paying.