Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho revealed that he wanted to sign Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria but they were too expensive under UEFA’s FFP rules. The pair were signed this summer by Manchester United with Radamel Falcao arriving on loan and Di Maria on a permanent transfer from Real Madrid.

Manchester United broke the British transfer fee in signing Di Maria that was originally set by Chelsea FC when they signed Fernando Torres from Liverpool. Torres was signed for a reported £50 million but Di Maria cost United a whopping £59.7 million. It was a pretty penny to pay for a player on the outs at Madrid but he is a world class player with a proven track record of success. He also does not have the confidence issues Torres had at the time but he does have trouble staying healthy.

The Red Devils also broke the bank, albeit in a different way, to acquire the services of Falcao from AS Monaco. They paid a loan fee believed to be about £6 million and are paying Falcao a wage that is believed to be £260,000 a week. An astronomical fee for a player coming off a major knee injury and one who also has trouble staying healthy. After all is said and done this season, Manchester United will have spent £24 million on Radamel Falcao’s services for just one season.

If it was Chelsea doing this sort of thing then it would be decried by critics and trolls across the world of football as “ruining” football by inflating transfer fees and paying ridiculous sums for a loan player. Because it is Manchester United doing it then it is written off as the cost of business in an increasingly expensive market. The goal of FFP is to curb this sort of thing but it appears that only Chelsea is truly following UEFA’s regulations.

Jose Mourinho told The Sun that he was given first crack at the two players from the agent they share, Jorge Mendes. He refused to sign them because “Chelsea doesn’t have the financial capacity to pay eight, nine or ten million euros a year, because of fair play”.

Aug 10, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Inter Milan midfielder Esteban Cambiasso (19) controls the ball away from Real Madrid midfielder Angel Di Maria (22). Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Mourinho continued and said, “we couldn’t bring Falcao or Di Maria because I didn’t want to, either. I can’t have a player earning 10 million when others earn three, four or five. That would have caused an explosion”.

The reason Chelsea cannot afford the fees and wages Mourinho cited is because of a few factors. The first being the small size of Stamford Bridge which holds about 40,000 fans compared to places like Old Trafford that can seat roughly 75,000. The 30,000 seat difference is big enough on a game to game basis but extrapolate that over an entire season and the difference in ticket revenues alone is tremendous.

Another factor is Chelsea’s smaller shirt sponsorship deal that sees them receive about £18 million from Samsung compared to Manchester United’s £50m a year deal from Chevrolet. That is the kind of money that allows United to sign and afford players like Radamel Falcao even if signing them is a risky proposition.

In order to catch up to teams like Manchester United and Real Madrid, Chelsea FC have to expand their global commercial presence and are starting to do so by seeking a bigger sponsorship deal with Turkish Airlines. They also have to either add new seats to Stamford Bridge or move to a larger stadium to make up for that difference in revenue.

The long term goal for the Blues is to become financially independent of Roman Abramovich and the aforementioned changes will help them on that path. Chelsea has shown they can still sign world class players like Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard because of their on field success and owner’s backing. However if they are able to do that while being self sufficient then it will help a great deal in complying with FFP.