Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has insisted he is “worried” about clubs like Chelsea finding loopholes in the new Premier League financial rules.
The 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – suggested the Blues would be the only club to “fall foul” of the new Financial Fair Play system.
Premier League clubs voted in favour of developing plans to introduce a spending cap on Monday (29 April).
The rules would limit outlay on transfers, wages and agents’ fees and it has been widely reported that it could sit at around £500million per season.
16 clubs voted for the plans, with only Aston Villa, Man City and Man United voting against and Chelsea abstaining.
Wyness worried about Chelsea finding loopholes in new systemThe Blues have been blasted for taking advantage of loopholes in the current FFP system after selling two Stamford Bridge hotels in a £76million intra-company deal.
Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “From all my analysis, Chelsea would be the only team to fall foul of the new criteria.What worries me is the potential for clubs to try and break this cap.
There are many ways that money can be held offshore and in trusts for people, and never be found out.
There are a lot of loopholes to breach these spending limits.
I’m not saying Chelsea will do that, but any big club could choose to go down that route if they felt they were in danger.
The forensic accountants would have a field day trying to find the money, but unless something like the Panama Papers happened, you’ll never find out.
There are ways around it.They would be subject to huge sanctions if caught, but the chances of that are pretty remote.
We’ve seen clubs going out of their way to find loopholes in the current rules, so my confidence in clubs is pretty low.
