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A day after Uefa lodged a complaint against PSG and Manchester City over an alleged breach of Financial Fair Play rules, Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly said clubs might not be able to sign players “at any price” due to the risk of sanctions.

The summer transfer window is on and Manchester City so far have made the big move, signing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund while PSG beat Real Madrid to renew contract with French superstar Kylian Mbappe.

Chelsea have been the most successful team in England in the period since Abramovich bought the club in 2003, thanks in large part to the Russian’s investment. However, an investment group led by Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired Chelsea in May after former owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Financial Fair Play is starting to get some teeth and that will limit ability to acquire players at any price,” Boehly said, as quoted by Reuters.

“UEFA takes it seriously and will continue to take it seriously. (More teeth) means financial penalties and disqualification from sporting competitions.”

‘GLOBAL FOOTPRINT OF FOOTBALL UNDEVELOPED’

Boehly, who is part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers MLB team, said European football’s financial position can be improved by a great deal along with a better personal brand for players. Boehly cited the American model, saying football’s media money is not even close to the NFL money despite football being the most popular sport on the planet.

“We think the global footprint of this sport is really undeveloped,” Boehly said.

“There are four billion fans of European football. There are 170 million fans of NFL. Global club football is a fraction of the NFL media money.

“We are also going to be thinking about, how do we get more revenues for the players?

“If you look at (the NBA’s) LeBron James, for example, he has a whole business and a whole team dedicated to what’s not on the court. So I think there is an opportunity to capture some of that American mentality into English sports and really develop them.”

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India today