Gary Neville slams Chelsea’s ‘mad’ eight-year contracts for making millionaire youngsters believe ‘I am rich’ and killing their motivation after struggles of Todd Boehly’s billion-pound team

Gary Neville believes Chelsea’s ‘crazy’ eight-year contracts are damaging the motivation of their young players.

Todd Boehly handed out long-term deals to newcomers during a £1 billion spending spree in the first transfer windows after buying the club.

Mykhailo Mudryk was signed on an eight-and-a-half year, £100,000-a-week contract when Chelsea signed him from Shakhtar Donetsk for £88.5 million in January 2023.

Enzo Fernandez, signed from Benfica for £106.8m in the same period, put pen to paper on a £180,000-a-week contract of similar length, which does not expire until 2031.

Moises Caicedo, who arrived for £115 million in August 2023, was signed on an eight-year contract for £150,000 per week, while striker Nicolas Jackson was on a £65,000 per week contract of the same duration.

Moises Caicedo (left) and Nicolas Jackson (right) in smart designer clothes – Gary Neville has suggested Chelsea players with long contracts are ‘really rich’ and lack motivation

Chelsea’s Noni Madueke, who signed a 7.5-year contract, pictured on holiday in St Maarten

Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk (left) and World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez (right) were signed on eight-and-a-half-year contracts by Chelsea when they signed for the West London club

Fernandez pictured outside a Cartier boutique in London in one of his Instagram photos

England’s Cole Palmer, pictured on holiday in Dubai, signed a seven-year contract with Chelsea

Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer are among other Chelsea players who have committed to long-term deals.

The idea was to help Chelsea comply with Financial Fair Play [FFP] rules by spreading the players’ costs over the long-term deal, a loophole that has since been closed.

But Neville believes a young player who thinks he is ‘really rich’ after signing such a long contract will not give his all to the cause.

Speaking The Gary Neville Podcast On the next steps Mauricio Pochettino’s side need to take, he said: ‘They need good, experienced signings, they cannot go down the route of eight years of signings.

‘Eight-year contracts are bad in many ways because I just don’t think they make sense. But actually they are not good for a young player.

‘The money is also big and if, as a young 21 or 22 year old, you think you have an eight-year contract, the club may think they have certainty about you, but the young player thinks: ‘I’m rich, I I’m really rich.”

‘For some that is a problem, it only affects their mentality.

‘What’s the motivation? You hope that this is the motivation for yourself and for your family. For your teammates and for your manager: do the right thing.

Gary Neville believes long-term contracts remove the motivation for young players to perform

Chelsea has had a difficult season and is on course for a mid-table finish

‘But then you sometimes think, after a year or eight months: ‘I have to fight for that new contract, I only have three or two years left.’

‘Some still have seven years left! Those contracts are insane in every respect.

‘Forget FFP and all those things that happened, forget the fact that if they make a mistake you’re stuck with them for a long time.

“Just for the young player themselves to think they have that comfort.”

Former Manchester United defender Neville admitted he had once signed a similar length contract at Old Trafford but knew manager Sir Alex Ferguson would not forgive any lapse in standards.

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly spent more than £1 billion on new signings after purchasing the club

Manager Mauricio Pochettino is under pressure and Chelsea are a work in progress

‘I’m saying that, I once signed a seven-year contract when I was 24. But I was as solid as a rock,” Marcel added.

‘He [Ferguson] would lose me after 10 minutes, forget the seven year contract! He would have thrown me out, he was in control.”