Maresca handed new Chelsea FFP blueprint as departure can unlock £120m plan

Less than 24 hours after Chelsea gained a new manager, they have confirmed the exit of another.

The club have announced the departure of Under-21 head coach Mark Robinson with him leaving to take charge of League One side Burton Albion. It ends a two-year spell at the club after joining from AFC Wimbledon in 2022.

Burton have also confirmed that strength and conditioning coach Elliott Axtell is also moving from Chelsea to the Pirelli Stadium where he will take a similar role with the first team. The news comes just a day after Enzo Maresca arrived at Chelsea as new head coach.

Maresca will be assessing his squad over the next few weeks, making decisions on who to keep, who to sell, and who to loan out. The Italian may decide to send some of the younger players out on loan for them to build up first-team experience.

This is where Chelsea could potentially use Robinson’s move to both teams’ advantage. Having worked with the U21s, the coach will know the players well and may be keen to take them on loan.

If Chelsea can send them out then it will expose them to more first-team football, and potentially put them in the shop window. If they impress then they could either return and make an impact in the first team at Stamford Bridge, or potentially boost their value for future sales.

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If the Blues can get more money for academy graduates, the sales would go down as pure profit sales in the accounts. It will therefore help with complying with the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs).

It’s a situation that Chelsea find themselves in with Omari Hutchinson. The 20-year-old spent the season just gone out on loan with Ipswich, who he helped earn promotion to the Premier League.

Ipswich are keen to re-sign the player this summer, but Chelsea are said to have made the decision that they will either sell or keep him in the summer. It is reported that the Blues have set an asking price of £25-30 million.

If they can get that amount then it would go down as pure profit and be a huge boost in the PSR worries. As per EFL rules, clubs can take a maximum of four players on loan from a club, with a minimum of two being under the age of 23, so, theoretically, Chelsea could make around £120 million a year if they go down the same path as Hutchinson

The figures won’t be as big for League One loans, but could eventually lead to players being worth that sort of money, especially if they help Burton get promoted and then impress in the Championship as Hutchinson has. Having someone in situ who knows the players and how to get the best out of them is a big advantage for Chelsea as they look for a similar situation either in January or next summer.