Regulatory bodies concerned after Chelsea owners' deal for Julio Enciso - finance expert
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Credit: Imago / Getty Images
Harri Burton
Thu 4 September 2025 16:00, UK
Chelsea’s manipulation of their ownership model will have left regulatory bodies questioning their own rules after a deal for Julio Enciso this summer.
That is according to football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that little can be done following the former Brighton playmaker’s move to Strasbourg, a club owned by BlueCo.
Todd Boehly has made several acquisitions from Brighton since taking over at Stamford Bridge, including Graham Potter, Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, and Robert Sanchez.
However, Enciso agreed to sign for BlueCo, with confirmation of the decision to send him to Ligue 1 being announced on transfer deadline day, with the future prospect of joining the Blues.
This article contains exclusive comment from Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
Following the 21-year-old’s move to Strasbourg, there is always the prospect of the Paraguay international featuring for the Blues in the future.
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Speaking to Football Insider exclusively, Plumley said that regulatory bodies cannot do much about transfers between clubs in the same model, which Chelsea can continue to take advantage of.
He said, “I think it still depends on the model of ownership, ultimately.
“What they’ve tried to do, and what they’ve been successful at, is a way to look at those regulations and go, ‘Okay, so if we move a player in this way, that’s okay against those regulations, and it helps us out’.
“Not every club can do that, because not every club is operated under that kind of multi-club ownership model, so it’s still dependent on the club in question, but you would naturally kind of use those things to your advantage.
Credit: Imago
“So I think in terms of that kind of natural evolution of the way some of the transfers are done, that’s still going to be dictated a lot by the ownership of the club, which again is something that the regulatory bodies are, I would say, concerned about to a degree.
“You can’t really do a lot with that at the moment under the current sets of legislation, so you’re looking at big governance shakeups to really change that position.
But it will continue to be a little bit club-dependent, because not every club can manoeuvre the market in that way.”
Enzo Maresca and company were able to take full advantage of the partnership this summer.
Getting wages off the books, Ben Chilwell joined Strasbourg just moments before the transfer window slammed shut.
Ishe Samuels-Smith also joined the Blues from the Ligue 1 side, weeks after moving in the opposite direction, before being loaned back out to Swansea City.
Going the other way, Mike Penders, Mamadou Sarr and Kendry Paez all jetted out to France on loan, with the chance for a lot more minutes on the pitch possible for Strasbourg, with Sarr only having recently joined Chelsea on a permanent deal from the French side.
Meanwhile Mathis Amougou was sold to the Ligue One outfit after making just two substitute appearances for the Blues in the five months since he arrived from Saint-Etienne.
The multi-club ownership has paid dividends all summer, with several deals being done, and that is only going to continue under BlueCo.