There is nothing like some enormous Saudi generosity to send you over a potential violation of the spending rules and in the transfer market.
Chelsea will really laugh at the bank, with a powerful £ 43.7 million for the Portuguese attacker Joao Felix, a handsome average player who is now on his way to Al Nassr.
Let us remember ourselves how things went for the 25-year-old during his two stints at Stamford Bridge. After a six -month loan arrived in January 2023, Felix was sent away after an hour of his first game, in Fulham, and he only scored four times in 20 performances.
For the reasons that were only known to himself, Chelsea then made him a permanent signing of Atletico Madrid a year later, as part of the deal that sent Conor Gallagher the other way.
The shiny contract of Felix was dust within six months when he was considered non -grata and sent to AC Milan on loan. This time he had only made nine starts for Chelsea, of which only three were in the Premier League.
His goal in the 6-2 that wolves struck the blues in the second league match, was the only one against serious opposition, the other six that came to Morecambe in the FA Cup and Panathinaikos and Noah in the Conference League.
So you should say a gross incorrect estimate. Yet he is now worth the thick end of £ 44 million.
These casual confetti spending are outside faith, at a time when so many rival clubs are seriously limited by profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
But for Chelsea there seems to be no danger and you don't have to worry if things don't work out, because they have their Saudi friends ready to make the outsiders so often.
This beneficency comes from the Saudi Capital of the Saudi State, PIF, which, as well as checking Newcastle United – has a serious investment in Clearlake Capital, which are part of Chelsea's ownership group.
The Premier League has accepted the guarantees of Todd Boehly, who bought Chelsea with Clearlake in 2022, which PIF had no involvement in their takeover, which might have created a conflict of interest because of their ownership of Newcastle.
But Rivals have long been concerned about the interest of the Saudi -Pro League in a large number of Chelsea players. One top club has described the use of the Saudis by teams as a 'Get Out of Financial Fair Play prison -free card'.
Felix is the newest Chelsea player who is directly plunged to Riyad on a private jet, which was considered a failure, beyond their best or an error of judgment.
Al Nassr also turned out to be useful when paying £ 19.1 million for the 19-year-old Brazilian winger Angelo Gabriel, who did not play a minute for Chelsea, but left £ 6 million more away than they paid for him.
N'Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy all went the same way. And then there was the ultimate Saudi -Cash -in, as Chelsea had suggested, for Raheem Sterling -a player who is even less willing to be stimulated in the desert.
When Chelsea Manager Enzo Maresca decided that he was not in the mood for Sterling not too more fun, barely two years after Boehly had thrown a contract of £ 300,000 a week in the wing player and begged him to sign, Chelsea was so convinced that the Golf had even been completed before the player had even been hit.
Sterling was surprised and called their bluff. He did not want to be pushed into the middle after he had established his family in London and with the pleasure he took to see how his son developed into a player under the 9s at the Academy of Arsenal.
Offered a choice between the Chelsea Bomb Squad or the desert, the reaction of Sterling was: 'I will stay. You don't push me around. '
And he remained until the deadline day last summer, when Chelsea was forced to agree with the supply of Arsenal of a seasonal loan as a way to get two-thirds of his salary out of their books.
Chelsea claims that Saudi interest in their players is purely transactional and up to the popularity of the club in the middle, but the conveyor belt that players take from Stamford Bridge to Riyadh continues to roll.
At the top of English football you can cut cynicism with a knife.