Chelsea have made a major change to many of their players’ contracts because of £50m man

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Since Todd Boehly and BlueCo’s Chelsea takeover, there has been a complete overhaul of the wage structure, and one player is a major reason why.

The Chelsea of today is a far cry from the days of Roman Abramovich.

The recruitment strategy is night and day, now targeting young players with tremendous upside rather than proven stars in the game. It’s a strategy that brought two trophies to Stamford Bridge last season and has turned Chelsea into a sustainable financial powerhouse.

• READ MORE: Jose Mourinho shares how he’s really feeling as he prepares to face Chelsea in the Champions League

Part of that strategy has been to restructure the wages at the club, offering lower base pay but with performance-related incentives.

This decision hasn’t put off some of football’s most exciting young talent from buying into the Chelsea project. But there are remnants of the old way of doing things still in the squad, and one costly mistake in particular is proof of the mistakes of the past.

Chelsea’s wage restructure done to avoid another Raheem Sterling situation

There are many reasons why keeping a lower wage bill is beneficial, but Chelsea’s approach is far stricter than other clubs at the top of the league.

Simon Johnson has done a piece for The Athletic on the complex Raheem Sterling situation, in which he explains why the player has remained at Chelsea, despite his wages violating the club’s new policies.

• READ MORE: £60m player says he was expecting Chelsea to sign him for ‘a long time’

He writes: “The obvious query football fans will have is why the club or Sterling have not been able to come to a solution to avoid all this. Well, it was never going to be straightforward.

“The cost is one reason. Even if Chelsea pay a proportion of Sterling’s wages for a loan, like they did at Arsenal last season, it would still be an expense that would put off teams.”

Sterling was linked to Fulham earlier in the window, but it’s likely they were hesitant to take on even a portion of Sterling’s £300,000+ per week. That’s a ridiculous amount for any player, but especially so for someone not even involved in the squad.

And it’s a mistake the Chelsea ownership do not wish to repeat, as Johnson explains: “Indeed, Sterling is one of the reasons the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium soon changed to offering incentivised rather than guaranteed contracts.”

Sterling in no rush to leave

Sterling was quite clear with the club that he did not wish to move abroad and be away from his young family.

As much as his mammoth wages aren’t doing Chelsea any favours, he has a contract with them until June 2027, and is under no obligation to agree to a transfer if it isn’t one he wants.

It’s a goal of Sterling’s to once again represent England at the World Cup, though you would imagine those hopes have taken a dive now that he won’t be playing competitive football until January at the earliest.

The Sterling saga is an unfortunate situation, but not one born from malicious intent on any side. One thing’s for sure, though. Chelsea won’t be making a similar mistake in the future.